Zimra goes after defaulters

Published: 26 May 2014

THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority is carrying out impromptu visits to State enterprises and parastatals to establish their levels of tax compliance in view of salaries and perks for top managers.

Sources said the exercise is mainly aimed at establishing whether salaries and other perks for top management at the institutions were being properly taxed.

"Last week eight Zimra officials paid us an impromptu visit and demanded all documents relating to salaries and allowances paid to top management.

"The officials who clearly meant business spent the better part of the day going through several documents in various offices that deal with management affairs such as the accounts and human resources departments and interviewed the heads and staff that work in those departments after which they left," said one of the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was, however, not immediately clear how many State enterprises and parastatals had been visited by last week.

Zimra's acting director, legal and corporate services Mr Tichawona George Chiradza said the exercise was part of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority's ongoing efforts to enhance revenue collections in line with its mandate as enshrined in the Revenue Authority Act [Chapter 23:11] and other subsidiary legislation which the Authority administers.

"This initiative you mentioned is part of ongoing exercise aimed at checking on and improving compliance levels," he said.

"However, ZIMRA uses a number of strategies to ensure that what is due to the State is paid on time and in full. These strategies are not limited to door-to-door compliance checks and audits, which you have alluded to."

The impromptu visits come on the back of reports that some heads of State enterprises and parastatals have been earning mega salaries and allowances, which have raised questions on whether these were being properly taxed and whether the taxes were being remitted to the appropriate authorities.

- The Herald

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