19 Apr 2022

Taxpayers are encouraged to take advantage of the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) tax amnesty scheme before the extension period elapses in June.

Addressing members of the media in Gaborone recently, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Ms Peggy Serame said only 52 per cent of taxpayers in arrears had applied for the amnesty.

She said although this was an improvement compared to the less than 10 per cent reported in December last year,  it was still a concern that about 48 per cent of defaulters had not  taken advantage of the scheme.

With less than two months left before the amnesty period elapses, she urged BURS to continuously work on initiatives to improve uptake. 

Ms Serame noted that current initiatives geared at improving uptake included engagement of Business Botswana and Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants.

“These initiatives include having a dedicated desk for assisting taxpayers to apply for tax amnesty and making telephone calls to taxpayers who have applied,” she said.

Minister Serame explained that the scheme’s objective 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 a write-off of interest and penalties charged during tax periods prior to July 2021. 

The amnesty was effective in recovering outstanding taxes because of the reduced penalties and interest charges, she stated.

Emphasising the importance of tax collection, Ms Serame said on average, BURS collections constituted 77 per cent  of government revenue and grants.

 In the current financial year, BURS was expected to collect P46.33 billion or 68 per cent of the P67.87 billion needed for financing government projects and programmes, stated the minister. 

She also said Botswana’s imports and exports, averaging  P70 billion and P60 billion respectively, were processed annually by BURS to facilitate timely importation of raw materials and machinery necessary  for stimulating growth of industries which led to employment creation and poverty reduction. 

The minister said key activities which would assist BURS to achieve revenue collection operational efficiency included review of both the Value Added Tax Act and the Income Tax Act. 

She said the review would result in the enactment of a new tax administration legislation as well as two amended laws which would be aligned to the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and digitisation with the view to growing the economy and improving service delivery. 

Significant investment had been made in ICT systems to enhance operational efficiency in revenue collection and service delivery, she said. ends