Government's tax amnesty hailed

Dar es Salaam. The government has been hailed for its decision to introduce tax amnesty on interest and penalties amidst complaints that the business community was facing tax irregularities that have been hampering trade in the country.

This is according to Super Group of Companies’ Head of Corporate Department Ibrahim Ali during a seminar on tax amnesty programme for the remission of interest and penalties.

Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, he said they were happy with the government’s decision to help business people to pay taxes without being forced. He said there had been irregularities in implementation of tax revenue collection that have been frustrating the business community.

He, however, declined to mention the irregularities, saying they had already taken their woes to the government and were now expecting implementation.

Expounding he said that challenges in taxation included the Skill Development Levy (SDL) that has been very high and is still high despite government efforts to reduce it.

“We thank our President, John Magufuli, for this decision as it has shown that it is something that can be implemented despite it taking a long time to come into effect,” he said. He added that issuing amnesty did not necessarily mean that the government would lose revenues but it would encourage more investment and the public to pay taxes voluntarily.

Meanwhile, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) acting commissioner, Large Tax Payer Department, Alfred Mregi, speaking on behalf of the Commissioner General, said they have decided to conduct a seminar to give an opportunity to taxpayers who have defaulted in their basic obligations to comply with tax laws to regularise their tax affairs by making full disclosure of their financial reporting.

“This includes paying the outstanding principal amount of tax in exchange for remission of interest and penalty by 100 percent,” he said.

He said the government through the Finance Act 2018 amended the Tax Administration Act 2015 to enable the Commissioner General to grant 100 per cent remission on interest and penalties.

However, he noted that the special programme had a limited time frame of six months starting July 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018, and urged all taxpayers across the country with outstanding tax liabilities of interest and penalties to apply for remission.