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The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has said a total of 214 cases were currently under investigation for (VAT) fraud.
According to the ZRA Commissioner-General, Dingani Banda, the authority had prioritised prosecuting VAT fraud cases in courts so as to set examples for would-be offenders.
He indicated that there were a total of 11 VAT fraud cases that are in various courts of Law at various stages.
The Commissioner-General said this on Friday in his presentation on “key tax measures pronounced in the 2024 budget” at the 2024 budget symposium in Lusaka.
Read more: Revenue authority says refund claims of about K50 billion in Value Added Tax outstanding
“It is expected that with implementation of the Electronic Invoicing System (EIS) in 2024, detection of VAT fraud between Business to Business will be easy.
“So far 29 investigation cases of VAT fraud have been concluded by ZRA. The offenders have been communicated to on these assessments. A total of 214 cases are still under investigation,” Mr Banda said.
He highlighted selected tax policy measures pronounced in the 2024 budget.
Among them was the increase the period in which a business could claim a refund on VAT incurred on eligible goods before the commencement of commercial operations to seven years from the current four years, for hydroelectricity generation.
“’The measure is meant to extend the period in which businesses can be refunded VAT incurred on eligible inputs before commencement of operations to seven years from the current four years.
“This is in consideration of the average gestation period of hydro power projects,” Banda said.
Meanwhile, Banda said ZRA in 2024 was expected to collect K125.3 billion, growth of 21.5 percent from the 2023 target.
He explained that ZRA target steeply increased in 2022 by 53.3 percent from 2021.
“Relative to 2021, the 2024 target increased by 111.1 percent,” the Commissioner-General said.
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