11 Aug 2020

Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Thapelo Matsheka, on August 10, tabled before Parliament a Botswana Unified Revenue Service (Amendment) Bill, 2020 for second reading.

The bill seeks to amend the Botswana Unified Revenue Service Act to align it with current corporate service trends as well as improve administration and enforcement of revenue laws to optimise tax revenue through efficient and effective tax collection.

Dr Matsheka said the bill introduced new clause, which provided for the seal of the revenue service, the custodianship and authentication of the seal, which was not there before.

Furthermore, it proposed increase of the number of board members from seven to 10 and also expanding on skills and qualifications required for the board.

The bill also proposed that five members of the board shall be from the public sector and four members from the private sector with experience in the fields of human resources, business, information technology or law.

Dr Matsheka said the chairperson of the board shall be appointed from the public sector and that the commissioner general shall have no voting rights at meetings of the board.

Furthermore, the bill proposed that board members shall be re-appointment for one further term of a maximum of four years.

The bill further proposed amendments to allow the board to hold at least four ordinary meetings, instead of having four meetings of any types in a year.

“The quorum at board meetings is also increased from four to five and that at least two of the members present shall be from the public sector,” said Dr Matsheka.

Furthermore, the proposed bill would amend section 15 of the Act to provide for persons other than board members to be appointed to the committees of the board to enhance the skills mix.

In other amendments members would be co-opted to any committee of the board and also for any committee, like the board, to be able to invite any person to any of its meetings as and when necessary.

The bill also sought to amend Section 17 of the act to provide for remuneration and allowance of any person invited to attend a meeting of the board.

Furthermore, the bill inserted a new section that would provide for protection of the property of the revenue service against court orders for attachment and to authorise the commissioner general to effect settlement of judgements against the revenue service in money rather than in property. ENDS