02 Dec 2021

So far, only 10 per cent of tax payers with outstanding tax liabilities have responded to the Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) tax amnesty dispensation scheme. 

Briefing the media on Wednesday, BURS Commissioner General, Ms Jeanette Makgolo said this was a worrisome trend given that the tax amnesty order effected on July 1 was due to lapse on December 31. 

Ms Makgolo said the objective of the tax amnesty scheme was to ease the burden on taxpayers with outstanding tax liabilities, by granting them an opportunity to clear the total principal tax owed, in exchange for write off of interest and penalties charged during tax period prior to July 1. 

She said the low uptake was disturbing, considering that the amnesty provided tax payers opportunity to eradicate their debt, adding that BURS was amenable to taxpayers making payment plans. 

She however said tax payers could only enjoy the scheme if they had fully paid their principal liabilities before the end of the scheme. 

Ms Makgolo said since June, BURS had been on a continuous national campaign through all media platforms to educate, sensitise and encourage the public to take advantage of the tax amnesty scheme.

To date, 1 998 taxpayers had applied for tax amnesty, with 1 065 applications received manually at BURS regional offices, whilst 701 were emailed, she said. 

She said 231 applications were rejected outright due to outstanding returns and tax obligations by the taxpayers, whereas 201 were pending updating of returns, reconciliations and adjustments by BURS to correct misallocation of payments and mix up of obligations that occurred during migration of transactions from the legacy system. 

She revealed that so far, 743 out of the 1, 566 approved tax amnesty applications had been processed, totaling approximately P44 million. 

Ms Makgolo stated that about P5 million principal tax had been paid and 42 taxpayers had entered into payment plans, amounting to roughly P24 million. 

Meanwhile, the commissioner general said the 2020/2021 tax year, had been linked to the tax amnesty scheme and will therefore also end on December 31 

“It is also important to highlight that individuals whose only source of income is from employment and does not exceed P480 000 per annum are not required to file returns,” she said. 

She urged individual taxpayers that had not already filed their returns to do so at the earliest opportunity to avoid inconveniences at the last minute. Ends