The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) introduced the Tax and Revenue Management System (TaRMS), which has seen a 116% increase in taxpayer registrations since its launch in December 2023.
According to Zimra’s Commissioner General, as reported by The Chronicle, TaRMS has had 100% uptime as it offers online tax return submissions, integrated validation to minimise errors, and real-time data updates. All this should enhance taxpayer engagement and convenience.
You don’t need to be a software developer to recognize that 100% uptime is nigh on impossible to achieve. Achieving 100% uptime for any online platform is exceptionally challenging due to factors like maintenance, unexpected technical issues, and cyber threats.
In fact, ZIMRA’s own Client Satisfaction Surveys show that TaRMS has indeed had some downtime.
The Q4 2024 Client Satisfaction Survey reveals several concerns regarding ZIMRA’s system performance and reliability. Recommendations include the need to stabilize and optimize key systems like ASYCUDA and TaRMS to ensure their reliability and user-friendliness.
Notably, a significant portion of respondents expressed that ZIMRA’s systems are not always available or performing to their expectations. The overall perception of system performance is average, with concerns about reliability and performance being prominent.
In addition, tax accountants specifically reported occasional downtimes or inefficiencies in ZIMRA’s e-services platform as a challenge.
In light of this, one wonders why ZIMRA’s Commissioner General decided to “exaggerate”—or, if you’re not feeling generous, lie—about TaRMS’ performance.
What I think we can agree on is that TaRMS could be considered better than the system it replaced. That is a very low bar to clear, but credit where it’s due—TaRMS appears to have cleared it.
Anyway, for those without internet access, ZIMRA says there are nationwide kiosks to ensure that all taxpayers can engage with the system effectively.
They also claim that TaRMS is built on strong cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive taxpayer data and has been rigorously tested to handle peak submission periods.
According to clients, there is still a lot of work to be done.
I’ll leave you with this: In SECTION D: SYSTEMS PERFORMANCE RATINGS, for the statement, “ZIMRA’s system is always available when I need it and always performs to my expectations,” only 15% strongly agreed, 28% agreed, 11% disagreed, and 4% strongly disagreed, while a significant 42% remained neutral.
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