ZRA commences bond redemption exercise

BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes@SunZambian THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) is currently undertaking a bond redemption exercise involving K38.35 million in potential duties and taxes from unaccounted for transits, as it suspends and revokes 25 licences of clearing and forwarding agents for tax fraud.Bond redemption is undertaken by ZRA in collaboration with guarantors, namely banks and/or insurance companies to account for Government revenue that is locked up in outstanding transit customs declarations.By law, all goods in transit, except those moving by rail, should exit Zambia within five days, says ZRA Acting Corporate Communications Manager, Robert Zawe in a statement.Mr Zawe said notable type of goods on which bond redemption was being undertaken were motor vehicles that moved on “Own Wheels”, particularly those in transit to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe.Since 2013 – 2020, a total of 7,340 motor vehicles were deemed not to have exited Zambia.“Through the ZRA decentralized deposit account, a client that is transiting through Zambia to another country, can pay a deposit to customs at entry port such as Nakonde and have his/her deposit refunded by the customs office at the exit port such as Kasumbalesa upon confirmation of exit of the goods by customs,” Mr Zawe said.Meanwhile, Mr Zawe said ZRA had suspended and revoked licences of 25 clearing and forwarding agents for tax fraud which could have led to revenue loss of K6.5 million.Mr Zawe said the 25 licences were suspended and revoked for forgery, false declarations and smuggling.As at 31st October, 2020, ZRA had a total of 967 licensed companies for clearing and forwarding.Mr Zawe explained that the move was aimed at strengthening the ZRA’s momentum towards full tax compliance and zero-tolerance to fraud and corruption.“Twelve licenses have been revoked for cases of forgery of customs clearance letters during the licensing exercise, forgery and false declarations, with potential loss of government revenue amounting to K3 million.“Thirteen licenses have however been suspended due to various offences mostly forgery and attempted smuggling, with an approximate revenue loss of K3.5 million,” he said.Mr Zawe stressed that ZRA would continue plucking out those who aided tax evasion and fail to comply with legal requirements.He said smuggling of goods through false declarations, forgery, transit fraud, misclassifications, under-declarations and under-valuations was a serious offence and offenders would be dealt with in accordance with the law.Mr Zawe warned all clearing agents to desist from engaging themselves in the above highlighted cases to avoid having their licences revolved.“Clearing agents being very important intervenors in the customs process have an important role to play in ensuring national security and public revenue collection and therefore the people involved in this business must be people whose ethical and business conduct is above board,” he said. The Sun