ZRA penalised 214 business firms for failing to issue tax invoices

BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes @SunZambian THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has in the first eight months of this year penalised 214 businesses houses with penalty fines valued of K19.4 million for failure to issue tax invoices, as it searches Anzan Enterprises Limited for the same offence.Every business is required to issue a receipt and the tax […]

ZRA penalised 214 business firms for failing to issue tax invoices
BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes @SunZambian THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has in the first eight months of this year penalised 214 businesses houses with penalty fines valued of K19.4 million for failure to issue tax invoices, as it searches Anzan Enterprises Limited for the same offence.Every business is required to issue a receipt and the tax invoice without fail as well as to use Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs) for all those registered for Value Added Tax (VAT).ZRA Corporate Communications Manager, Topsy Sikalinda, said the organisation had from January 2020 to August 2020, the organisation has penalised 214 business houses for failure to issue tax invoices.Mr Sikalinda stressed that failure to issue a tax invoice or to use the EFD machine was an offence and attracted penalties as specified in the VAT regulations.He said the penalties included a monetary penalty of K90,000 or being taken to court and upon conviction the directors could be sentenced up to two years imprisonment or both.“These amounts are too high and as an authority, we do not take pleasure in collecting money through penalties. We are Tax collectors and not penalty collectors,” Mr Sikalinda said in a statement.Meanwhile, Mr Sikalinda said ZRA had searched Anzan Enterprises Limited for suspected conspiracy to defraud the state Tax Revenue through non-issuance of receipts and tax invoices.This, he said, followed routine incognito operations conducted by the authority on Tuesday this week on various Business houses including Anzan Enterprises Limited.Mr Sikalinda cautioned businesses to adhere to the requirement of the law by issuing receipts and invoices for all transactions and not wait for the ZRA to pounce on them.He said these findings were an appropriate reminder that attempting to defraud the state would result in serious consequences.Mr Sikalinda also said the court convictions for tax related crimes had continued to yield positive results.“Last week, the Authority secured another successful conviction of a male ALPORT PHIRI a clearing agent for forgery, authoring forgery and smuggling.“The victim was sentenced to 24 months in each of the first two cases and 9 months in the last case. The Authority currently has 13 active cases before the courts of law for cases related to tax evasion and smuggling,” Mr Sikalinda said. The Sun