Revenue authority says refund claims of about K50 billion in Value Added Tax outstanding

The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has announced that it currently has close to K50 billion worth of outstanding Value Added Tax (VAT) refund claims, as measures are put in place to address its challenges.

According to the ZRA Commissioner-General, Dingani Banda, at a media briefing in Lusaka on Wednesday, the authority currently had K49.4 billion in the stock of outstanding VAT.

Out of this amount, K18.8 billion (38.1 percent) has been approved but pending payment.
“Currently, the stock of outstanding VAT refunds claims is K49.4 billion, out of which K18.8 billion (38.1 percent is approved but pending payment.

“Also, 74.5 percent of the total outstanding VAT refund claims are related to the tax periods prior to 2023,” Mr Banda said.

Read more: ZRA says 105 tax collectors fail to remit about K2 billion, as only seven of 2,400 mines are tax compliant

The Commissioner-General also announced the current measures which ZRA had put in place to address VAT challenges.

One of the measures Banda pointed out was the increase of monthly refund allocation to K1.35 billion per month from October 2021, as opposed to previous average of K850 million per month.

Other measures mentioned were introduction of the First-In-First-Out methodology for payment of refunds, exempting withholding agents and large taxpayers from withholding VAT and prosecution of VAT refund frauds.

Meanwhile, Banda stated that revenue target for 2023 grew by 73.9 percent between January and November this year, with largest growth recorded in Company Income Tax and withholding Tax.

Between January to November 2023, ZRA net collections were K4.5 billion or 4.7 percent below the target of K95.5 billion and refunds amounted to K14.9 billion.

“Mining Company Income Tax and Mineral Royalty were K7.0 billion (56.8 percent) and K1.1 billion (13.5 percent) below target, respectively.

“Domestic VAT was marginally below target (K13.9 million or 0.2 percent, while domestic VAT was above target by K2.0 billion or 11.7 percent,” Banda said.

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