Public Notice: ZIMRA Apologises For Systems Failure, Guarantees To Restore Operations

ZIMRA’s systems have been down for over a month now. Operations have been heavily affected and the most visibly at the borders, Beitbridge border post to be more precise. This unfortunately is/was the worst time for the system to be down seeing that December always has high traffic coming from South Africa (for the festive season) and hence the losses are unprecedented.

Nonetheless, ZIMRA has issued out a public notice in the press apologising and assuring the public that they are on it. Below is the notice as it appeared in the newspaper:

ZIMRA SYSTEMS UPDATE

The systems utilised by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority’s (ZIMRA) ,stakeholders and clients have not been stable and available as expected, and this has negatively affected operations. The system challenges affected the processing of tax returns, issurance of Tax Clearance Certificates and processing of Bills of Entry.

The Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) World system, that had crashed, was restored to working order with the help of the experts from the system supplier. Following the restoration of services, some instability has been experienced in some functionalities and efforts are currently underway to resolve the affected services.

Whilst most services of the ASYCUDA World system have stabilised (such as processing of payments, processing of Temporary Import Permits, and assessments of entries already lodged), new registrations are still facing challenges. This is being attended to with the help of the system experts and a solution is expected soon.

On the e-services platform, there are high volumes of transactions due to the peak period; and this has resulted in in some clients failing to use the system due to congestion. Efforts are underway to address this challenge. Our clients are also reminded that to successfully obtain a Tax Clearance Certificate through the system, the client should:

• Have acquired and installed fiscal devices under the fiscalisation programme;
• Have no outstanding submissions; and
• Have one’s account up-to-date

ZIMRA sincerely apologises to the the business community and the public for the inconveniences caused as a result of the system challenges. The Authority urges its clients to be patient as efforts to address the remaining challenges continue. Clients with urgent requirements can approach the nearest ZIMRA office for assistance. We, therefore, assure everyone that these matters are receiving due attention and ZIMRA has engaged technical experts who are currently on the ground.

Paying taxes and customs duties on time and in full builds and dignifies Zimbabwe.

Public Notice Number 1 of 2018