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| Business |
| MRA collects K611 million ($5.8) more |
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by
Aubrey Mchulu, 03 February 2004
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16:16:09
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Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has reported a K17.5 billion total collection of taxes for the first six months of the 2003/04 financial year against a set target of K16.9 billion for the period.
Responding to a question on whether the results are not being achieved at the expense of overcharging tax payers, especially importers, MRA deputy manager for public relations Lewis Kulisewa said on Monday the results were a reflection of MRA’s “focused revenue collection initiative.”
MRA was given a K32 billion target in the 2003/04 national budget which was later reviewed upwards to K36.1 billion in line with current economic trends, according to MRA Weekly, the tax collectors’ publication.
MRA’s target for the first six months ending December 2003 was K16,905,604,584 but it has collected a total of K17,517,099,606.
Kulisewa said MRA constituted a number of revenue enhancement measures such as intensified patrols on major roads to check smuggling, audit and an enforcement programme.
“It is these arrangements that have made it possible for us to enhance revenue, to beat targets. We have not only simplified customs procedures but also improved our accounting procedures,” he said, adding that customs procedures were simplified and computerised last year through the Automated System for Customs Data (Asycuda).
MRA director general Ernest Mtingwi is quoted in the publication as saying that the original tax collection target was constituted when the kwacha exchange rate to one US dollar was at K96 but is now at K107.
Mtingwi said the exchange rate is one of the determining factors of revenue estimates adding that MRA has a duty to ensure that the final collection is higher than the estimate.
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