18 Oct 2018

Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) is concerned about tax arrears, says commissioner general, Mr Keneilwe Morris.

Appearing before the Committee of Statutory Bodies and State Enterprise in Gaborone on October 16, Mr Morris said tax arrears continue to be a major challenge for BURS.

He said at the end of the financial year 2016/2017, BURS had accumulated debt in excess of P2.7 billion in unpaid tax, interest and penalties.

Mr Morris revealed that 70 per cent of the arrears were attributed to interest that was accrued before BURS was established.

He added that they had followed defaulters but were not making any progress, adding that they were on the verge of proposing to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to write off the arrears.

He noted that the defaulters were both ordinary people and citizens who owned companies, adding that some of the companies were registered while others were not registered.

Mr Morris also said some of the defaulters had died while others lived in abject poverty to be able to pay.

He added that BURS management had instituted a debt management strategy to recover the debt. He said  it included the garnishe of taxpayer accounts, ITC reporting, non-acceptance of cheques, installment plans and debit orders for owed tax.

He said the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development had agreed on arrangement where BURS would forward request for debt write-offs in accordance with the provisions of the tax statutes.

Furthermore, Mr Morris said tax compliance needed to be improved and urged all persons liable to comply.

Regarding long queues at the declaration counter, Mr Morris said BURS had embraced technology by developing services platforms that allowed taxpayers to apply for a tax clearance certificate and to submit tax returns on-line.

He said the platform also allowed for payment on-line at any bank of the choice of the taxpayer, saying the marketing of the on-line platforms had been intensified.

He added that they were hopeful that as more companies and individuals registered for e-services, the long queues would be reduced.

Meanwhile, Mr Morris verified that there were machines installed by Botswana Tourism Organisation that were to collect levy, adding that the machines never operated but were to function like vending machines to collect levy from non-SADC country persons.

PAC chairperson, Mr Samson Guma cautioned the commissioner general to be wary, saying BURS could be aiding corruption and money laundering.

Mr Guma said the fact that they cleared tax for some unregistered companies, it meant that they were aiding corruption and money laundering.

He said  BURS officers needed to interrogate and appreciate all the documents including of import service when rendering service. ENDS