02 Aug 2015

Members of Parliament have supported a move by Minister of Finance and Development Planning that the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2015, be proceeded with under a certificate of urgency.

Presenting the bill before Parliament, Mr Kenneth Matambo, said reasons for such urgency were that it was proposed to amend the act to enable (Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) to pay income tax refunds to taxpayers immediately after BURS had completed assessing the taxpayers and such taxpayers were due for refund.

Also, he said, consistent with corporate social responsibility, some companies were willing to assist government by donating certain facilities in the health and education sectors, citing construction of clinics for donation to the Ministry of Health as an example.

Thus, Mr Matambo said it was proposed to make a provision in the act to allow a tax dispensation for companies and other organisations that were prepared to contribute towards provision of critical social infrastructure.

Furthermore, the minister said there was also a proposal to exempt Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) from taxation, while BMC was taxed on its turnover.

Another reason for the urgency, Mr Matambo said, was that once the bill was approved during the current meeting of Parliament, its commencement should be July 1, 2015.

“If approval is given in the next meeting of Parliament in December 2015, the act will only commence in July 2016, and the benefits of the amendments cannot be realised during the current tax year,” he said.

The proposal for a motion of urgency was thus approved while the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2015 will see its second reading beginning of next week. Ends