TRA YAVUKA LENGO KWA KUKUSANYA TIRION 1.4

TRA yafanikiwa kuvuka lengo tangu kuanzishwa kwake

 kamishna mkuu wa TRA ,Alphayo Kadata akiongea na waandishi wa habari

 

Mamlaka ya Mapato Tanzania (TRA) kwa mara ya kwanza imefanikiwa kuvuka lengo la makusanyo ya kodi tangu kuanzishwa mamlaka hiyo mwaka 1996.

TRA imevuka lengo kwa kukusanya Shilingi trilioni moja, milioni 400, laki mbili na elfu 20 kwa Desemba 2015, ikiwa ni zaidi ya ongezeko la wastani wa Shilingi bilioni 490 kwa mwezi.

Ongezeko hilo la makusanyo ya kodi ni zaidi ya Shilingi milioni 900 zilizokusanywa kwa kipindi cha miezi mitano, kati ya Julai na Novemba mwaka jana.

Kaimu Kamishna Mkuu wa TRA, Alphayo Kidata, amesema lengo hilo ni kwasababu ya ya kukusanya kodi kwa umakini pamoja na kuweka mikakati yenye tija.

TRA pia imeongeza muda wa usajili kwa vyombo vya usafiri wa moto, pikipiki na bajaji, kwa muda wa mwezi mmoja bila adhabu.

Kidata anasema kipindi cha usajili bila adhabu sasa kitamalizika Januari mwaka huu, baada ya hapo usajili utaambatana na faini.

Mamlaka ya Mapato Tanzania (TRA) ilianzishwa kwa Sheria ya Bunge nambari 11 ya mwaka 1995, na ilianza kufanya kazi Julai Mosi 1996 kuwa chombo cha kusimamia na kukusanya kodi ya mapato nchini.

Dar es Salaam. Tax collection in the country hit a record Sh 1.4 trillion last month, boosting government confidence to finance its free education policy and meet other social service obligations.

Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Commissioner General Alphayo Kidata announced the achievement when he addressed a press conference at the taxman’s headquarters yesterday.

“This is happening because leaders of our country have decided that tax must be collected. It is the greatest amount ever collected by TRA since its establishment,” said Mr Kidata.

The current tax collection trend has renewed government’s hopes and confidence that it will be able to finance, among other things, free education and fulfill several election campaign pledges.

The noticeable achievements at TRA are in line with President Magufuli’s spirited campaign to crack down on and seal loopholes of tax evasion in the country to boost revenue.

He has publicly stated that he would want to lead a country that doesn’t depend on donors to fund its projects, saying Tanzania may one day become a donor country if taxes are collected robustly.

Since he took office in November, President Magufuli vowed to crush tax evaders and ordered the taxman to ensure every individual and company required by the law to pay tax does so. The government said it will be disbursing about Sh 18.7 billion every month to fund free education policy from primary to secondary school level.

TRA surpassed tax target  and collected Sh 1.4 trillion for Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar by Sh 490 billion a month, compared to monthly collections from June to November during which an average of Sh900 billion was collected monthly.

For the period from July to November TRA, collected a total of Sh 6.4 trillion against a target of Sh 6.5 trillion, equivalent to 95.5 per cent of total collections.

Yesterday, Mr Kidata attributed the achievements to firm strategies that TRA has put in place and implemented since President Magufuli took office, which includes sealing loopholes of revenue leakages and having good monitoring systems.

Meanwhile, Mr Kidata announced that TRA has collected Sh 11. 8 billion from businessmen who found themselves in trouble last month for illegally removing containers from the Dar es Salaam port without paying due taxes.

The amount includes Sh 5.3 billion from 19 businessmen and companies who have settled their container charges and Sh 4.1 paid by owners of Azam Inland Container Depot (ICD).

According to Mr Kidata, five businessmen are yet to settle Sh 2 billion in unpaid container charges. “Legal action will be instituted against them after expiry of the  ultimatum  set by the president,” he said.

Meanwhile, TRA has extended the deadline  to until the end of January for owners of motorcycles and tricycles popularly known as Bajaj,  to secure new registration numbers.

TRA had announced re-registration of all motorcycles from October 2014 to December 31, 2015 whereby 474, 696 out of 610, 461 were registered under the new system  which is equivalent to 77.7 per cent.