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THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) recorded a decrease in takings at Kasumbalesa border post due to reduced imports of mineral ores and concentrates last year.
Commissioner-general Berlin Msiska said in response to a press query last week that ZRA collected a total of K179.09 million against its targeted K485.36 million for 2014 at the border post between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“The decline in revenue collection at Kasumbalesa is mainly attributed to reduced imports of mineral ores and concentrates, arising presumably from the introduction of export duty on mineral ores by the Congolese government.
“It must be noted that Kasumbalesa revenue collection is mainly based on import VAT [value added tax] taxed on the mineral ores, which used to account for more than 96 percent of the traded importations,” Mr Msiska said.
He explained that Kasumbalesa border post, by nature of its operations, mostly facilitates the exit of transit and export goods into the DRC, and these do not attract duty or other taxes other than the automated system for customs data processing fees.
“Although the business volumes in terms of number of trucks entering or exiting Kasumbalesa may have continued to increase on a year-to-year basis, there is no direct correlation in some periods to the revenue collection as most of the goods carried are not taxable,” he said.
He said ZRA has since projected a total of about K208 million in revenue collection at the border this year.
“It must be appreciated that the Zambia Revenue Authority increases or reduces projected revenue collections target for an individual station by taking into account the prevailing business dynamics,” Mr Msiska said.
Daily Mail
