ZRA pays K4.7 bn VAT refund

By BUUMBA CHIMBULUABOUT K4.7 billion worth of Value Added Tax (VAT) has been paid in the last five months by the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) to ensure business continuity.The development will also help keep businesses afloat during the Covid-19 period.ZRA Commissioner General, Kingsley Chanda, said about K1 billion was being spent on VAT refunds on a monthly basis.Mr Chanda said in an interview that most of the chunk of the refunds were being paid to the mining companies.“Basically, we have continued to refund. On a monthly basis, we are doing between K850 million to K1 billion.Cumulatively we have already paid K4.7 billion in the last five months,” he said.Mr Chanda said ZRA, would continue to pay qualified refunds after undergoing the verification process.In March this year, Finance Minister, Bwalya Ng’andu, said Government had started working on a plan to dismantle arrears owed to businesses and Value VAT refunds.Dr Ng’andu said his ministry was working on a process to dismantle arrears and clear VAT refunds.“There is a process that we are working through, we are doing something about it. You will see something happening in the areas of arrears, we are trying to deal with arrears,” he said.Dr Ng’andu emphasised that: “you have to understand that it is not just refunds that are a problem but it is also arrears we owe to providers to goods and services and Zambian individuals, we have to pay them.“There is also water utility companies and so forth, so it is the entire range that we owe that is what we are trying to dismantle.”