The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has announced that it collected a net collection of K57.7 billion last year.
ZRA Commissioner General Kingsley Chanda says this outturn was 17.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to 17.8 percent of GDP in 2019.
Mr. Chanda says when measured against the Parliament target, this revenue outturn was K1.3 billion or 2.2 percent below target. The ZRA boss said this at a press briefing on the performance of the Zambia Revenue Authority in 2020 and the prospects for 2021.
“This performance is highly commendable for which I would like to applaud my management team and staff for this extraordinary effort under difficult circumstances. May I also mention that this performance relates to taxes collected by the Zambia Revenue Authority and does not include revenue collected by other government departments in form of non-tax revenue. I further would like to indicate that the Ministry of Finance will at an appropriate time and in line with its mandate give a brief on the revenue collected outside ZRA and expenditure outturn that is outside our mandate,” he said.
“In terms of tax refunds, the authority, during the year, paid a total of K12.9 billion in tax refunds compared to K10.5 billion paid out in 2019, representing a 12.3 percent growth. Of this amount, K12.64 billion was paid in VAT refunds of which K8.5 billion (67%) was paid to the mining sector. Direct taxes refunds stood at K72.3 million while K163.5 million was refunded under customs.”
Mr. Chanda added that the increase in the amount refunded in 2020 is in line with the Authority’s desire to dismantle all outstanding refunds.
He noted that dismantling outstanding VAT refunds and minimizing the accumulation of refunds remains one of the key operational priorities for the authority and the government as demonstrated by the payment of K700 million worth of VAT refunds from the K8.0 billion covid-19 bond which the government issued during the year.
“It is my hope and trust that as part of government’s broader agenda to reduce domestic arrears and inject liquidity into our economy, more resources will be made available to ZRA in 2021 to pay outstanding VAT refund claims which now stand at K16.6 billion (as at the close of 2020),” he indicated.
“Economic outlook and revenue targets for 2021 the government through the Ministry of Finance has set the tax revenue target for ZRA in 2021 at K59.3 billion. While this target may not be significantly different from the 2020 target, the 2021 target will be harder to achieve given the contraction of the economy in 2020 and the modest projected real GDP growth for 2021.”
Mr. Chanda was optimistic that the actualisation of initiatives set out in the economic recovery programme will support a macroeconomic environment favourable to revenue collection.
Mwabombeni. Well done. Especially knowing the effects of covid, this is a good achievement. The upnd diasporans are now seething and gnashing their teeth in anger. They hate seeing us do well because they enjoy being seen to be better than Zambians. We wonder why they don’t compete with the whlte people in the countries they ran to
Great job ZRA
Aba nabo…awe sure!
TRA has collected tsh 2 trillion in one month and zra k57. 7 billion the whole year ,your duty rates are too high you have distroyed so many business because of high taxes that’s why you are collecting K57. 7 billion the whole year and your friends are collecting tsh 2 trillion in a month.
Mutale Mulenga So TZ has collected $870million and Zambia has collected $2.7billion in 1 year. Where is the source of data for TRA
Emmanuel Kalota Kivike TRA collected that amount in one month. That’s what he says.
Well done Zambia Revenue Authority
ZRA officials know hw those who defraud government are spending their money on fancy toys, expensive real estate, etc. Hw come none of these people are facing tax evasion charges in the way we saw them act against The Post newspaper? Until the contrary is established, ZRA has to be considered as an accessory to corruption in Zambia.
How much did you collect from these over populated Toll Gates also?
Some of these toll gates will be museum……
And how did we fail to service the loan?
This money will go to vanish like it wasn’t made it’s a shame 2021 you will see
KZ it’s all and good collecting revenue. Now let’s talk about the Euro Bond debt and all the debt contracted from China.
Can we have a full accountability of how much was contracted from each lender and how much was used.
Also maybe Ape Man can shed some light how will the debt be paid , what time scale are we looking at.
Don’t give me this bull$sit about COVID. Since Ape Man is the political advisor of his crooked boss provide information because as a tax payer we need to know how this $27 billion debt incurred was used.
Bunch of crooks and thieves taking people for a ride.
nice but you cant tax your way to prosperity thats why no matter how much money the governement may get, country, zambia will always be poor
Scouser you are a silly diasporan who doesn’t pay any tax here, so no zambian owes you a single explanation. Go and hold your British masters accountable there in UK. Go question them over their economy. Leave our Zambia alone.
Don’t understand this PF money, how much is that in American dollars or Euros? I understand $17 million for 17 cartoon boxes of PF green condoms.
From the total revenue collected K57.7Billion (US$2,696Bilion) how much of this was ZRA operational expenses. This will give a clear picture if ZRA is efficiently collecting taxes.
Re: PF externalises another US$3 million on worthless project (Source- Zambia Watchdog)
“PF PAYS HIGHGATE $3M TO MANAGE ZAMBIA’S DETERIORATING IMAGE.
It is deeply disturbing that the Patriotic Front (PF) government of Mr. Edgar Lungu have reportedly paid $3m to Highgate, a London based communications consultancy firm, to manage Zambia’s external communication liaisons in view of the grossly negative and damaging reputation the PF have created to the outside world……”.
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Is this a Joke! According to Companies House (A government organisation) where all companies in the UK are registered (wck2(dot)companieshouse(dot)gov(dot)uk, Highgate Advisory LTD (#12396465) in London was only incorporated on 10 January 2020 by a Mr TS who later changed his name on 25 February 2020 to a Mr TSE-L…
Haha, is it true Kazier Zulu’s guards pay more tax than he does. Also ZRA and DEC, when are visiting Burma Car Wash?
This was already stolen by the incompetent dull useless boy and his thieving bunch of l0sers….
It’s not just about collecting taxes – more importantly, it is about how they are used, what they pay for and whether there is in fact an equitable distribution that also caters for the socially vulnerable sectors of the population.
Please also desist from disparaging those in the diaspora. Those are cheap, shallow and ignorant postings. People are free to offer their labour anywhere or live where they want. In case you are still in the medieval age, we are now in a connected global world. People even contribute to revenue and taxes through various ventures without having to be in that country. There are also massive contributions through remittances. Please, some of you, drag yourselves from ignorance and accept that you need to learn and be more broad minded. Some of you are really…
All this money will just end in pockets via inflated contracts and cadres…these are reckless careless people led by an empty suit.
Job well done
Are you now going to fix our pot hole riddled roads or service the enormous debt you’ve incurred? Whatever you decide to do , do it diligently , this is no time for nchekelako business.
Keep it up ?? ZRA
They always forget to say that this is a weaker Kwacha by far. That is a factor that must be weighed in and once you do that, you see that this is a measly sum indeed.
And about 95% of the collected sum will go to Zambia’s debt servicing and civil service salaries.
KINGSLEY you have done nothing worth of praise.How much has gone in our economy?
If Revenue Collection by ZRA is so good why are we failing to service and repay our External Debts? This means our priorities and usage of Financial Resources is questionable. There is too much Govt Profligacy and Corruption is at the Centre of our problems.