Zimra Surpasses 2018 First Quarter Revenue Target

ZIMRA (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority) surpassed its first-quarter target by an excess of US $84million. Gross revenue collections were 8.1% above the target of US $1.029 billion. Zimra attributes the improved revenue collection to enhanced effective use of automation.
The country’s tax collector is optimizing the use of it its e-services platform (Asycuda – Automated System for Customs Data) and fiscal devices to increase revenue collection.

Despite Asycuda’s persistent breakdowns, Zimra is continuously surpassing its targets. This year already Asycuda has gone down twice for several days. Imagine if it didn’t experience these breakdowns by how much would they have surpassed their target.

Q1 2018 Revenue Contributions

Corporate Income tax revenue surged to US$128.55million from US$98million.The positive performance is ascribed to increased electronic and mobile financial transactions.

VAT on Local sales revenue improved by US$30.8million to $US265.70 because of increased use of plastic money and Tax Management system which improved compliance.

Vat on Imports collections hit US$ 123.14million against a target of US$100.60million registering a US$43.95 increase compared to 2017 first quarter.

Customs Duty collections for the quarter increased to US$90.41 against the US$88.78 target. Asycuda was cited as a catalyst in curtailing leakages at the border.

Excise Duty revenue had a positive variance of 17.65% as it grew to US$233.32 million. The success of the Electronic Cargo Tracking System was given credit for propelling this increase.

Withholding Tax on Contracts surpassed the target of US$35.84million against a target of US$44.76million.
Carbon Tax collections registered a 45.17% growth from US$10.66million to US$8.83million attributed to increased importation of fuel.
Mining Royalties revenue decreased to US$19.5million against a target of US$21.50million. This was attributed to fluctuating global prices of minerals.

Dividends, Fees, interest& Remittances grew by 32.69% to US$18.72million against a set target of US$14. 11million.Other taxes reached US$17.57million falling short of the targeted US$20.53million.

A large amount of revenue increase stemmed from the continuous embracing of technology at Zimra. However, the current success can be improved on if Asycuda’s persistent collapses are fixed.

Shortage of fiscal devices is also undermining Zimra’s revenue collection capabilities. The revenue authority reported that the “current fiscalisation has been completed but many people do not have gadgets and those with them are complaining of high costs of fiscal gadgets and their maintenance”