The Zambia Revenue Authority – ZRA has exceeded its first quarter (January to March) target for 2020 by collecting K63.7 million above target. The Target for the first quarter was K13.1 billion and the Authority collected a surplus of K63.7 million.
In the quest to comply with the Value Added Tax (VAT) law and ensure there is liquidity in the economy, Government through ZRA refunded a total of K2.9 billion during the just ended quarter.
In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT on April 1, 2020, ZRA Corporate Communications Manager Topsy Sikalinda said despite the overperformance during the quarter under review, the authority is already feeling the threat that COVID-19 poses to revenue collection efforts as the business environment has already been negatively affected.
He said this will have a serious negative impact on revenue collections in the second quarter and possibly the entire year because of the decline in copper prices that has already affected mineral royalty tax collections and projections for corporate income tax from mining sector.
Sikalinda added that it is also expected that all other taxes will be affected negatively but ZRA is optimistic that the strategies put in place will mitigate the expected negative impact of COVID 19 on the country’s economy.
“We have no choice but to devise effective strategies to collect more revenue as the Zambian people need Government services more than ever during this pandemic. We appeal to our tax payers and importers to be tax compliant,” He said
