VAT REVENUE UP BY 9%
EZULWINI – Though there was slight improvement in the value added tax VAT collections, non-compliance to remitting VAT remains the major concern to ERS.
Edward Groening, the Director of the Research, Strategy and Statistics Department at the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) said, they have continued to see gaps in the VAT collections but the improvement was impressive. He said they have seen an improvement in the collections of 9 per cent when compared to the previous year.Groening said as of this date, VAT was the fastest growing when compared to all the tax types collected in the country. He said, for the first time, they have seen an increase, going above the set target by 2 per cent. He added that they have also seen an improvement in the voluntary compliance but there were still significant gaps noted as far as this type of tax was concerned. ERC Commissioner General Brightwell Nkambule said the recently introduced systems have improved the organisation’s performance ratios.
Comply
Speaking during the press briefing in February, Nkambule said, among the VAT clients, there were those who continuously failed to comply with the remitting of VAT obligation.
He said they had observed that some VAT registered clients were collecting VAT but underdeclaring. He said it was also observed that some clients were collecting VAT but they were not declaring, and not remitting collected VAT.
He said another observed behaviour was that VAT Registered clients declared VAT but failed to remit payment. He added, on the other hand, that some VAT un-registered clients were collecting VAT. The commissioner general mentioned that another concern was the undeclared import VAT at Border Posts and underdeclared import VAT. Meanwhile, the commissioner general highlighted that emaSwati were taking advantage of the new Sondzela Sikhulume Campaign aimed to encourage clients to come forward with their non-compliance issues for deliberation. The campaign encourages clients, both individuals, and businesses, to proactively engage with the ERS to explore tailored solutions for managing their tax matters.
He said emaSwati that were having challenges in complying with their tax obligations were coming forward and they were happily getting the help they need.
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