ZIMRA boss, Geshom Pasi.
THE recently gazetted Finance Bill has proposed to give the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) the power to “name and shame” all tax offenders.
The Finance Bill, gazetted on August 28, 2015, after being introduced by Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, will be a topical issue when Parliament resumes regular sittings next week.
Clause 16 of the Bill proposes that: “As a deterrent to tax evasion, it is proposed to empower the commissioner-general of the Revenue Authority to publish the names of persons convicted of the same.”
The published information on the tax cheats would include the name and area of residence as well as the offence and all other relevant information the commissioner-general deems to be relevant.
Some of the offences to be considered as a tax offence include smuggling as well as any crime against the Betting and Totalisator Control Act, Capital Gains Tax Act, Customs and Excise Act, Income Tax Act, Income Tax (Transitional Period Provisions) Act, Stamp Duties Act, Tax Reserve Certificates Act and Value Added Tax Act.
The Bill comes in the wake of protracted attempts by ZIMRA to get individuals and companies to honour their tax obligations, with the organisation going as far as extending a moratorium on a clampdown on all tax defaulters.
Early this year, the commissioner-general, Gershem Pasi, expressed displeasure at the poor response to an amnesty his organisation had extended to tax dodgers for them to settle debts or at least provide a payment plan.
Back then, Pasi, who was struggling to recover over US$1 billion in tax arrears, promised to show no mercy after the amnesty period had expired on May 31, 2015. The amnesty was, however, further extended to June 30, 2015.
By the end of July the tax arrears had shot past the US$1,4 billion mark.
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