By Lydia Kalonde Maganga
Blantyre, October 21, Mana: Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has collected K4.65 billion during the six months period of the Voluntary Compliance Window (VCW).
MRA Director of Corporate Affairs, Steven Kapoloma, made the disclosure on Wednesday in Blantyre when he briefed the media on the exercise and announced the closure of the exercise on October 31, 2020.
Kapoloma said since the exercise started in April this year, MRA has received 1, 176 applications from both customs and domestic taxes.
“As you are aware, the exercise started on April 8 and is expected to end on October 31, such being the case we decided to inform the public on how the exercise has being running, the challenges and some successes we have encountered within the six months period.
“We introduced the window to provide relief to business people who have been negatively affected by the huge impact of the Coronavirus and also to increase voluntary tax compliance among the business community,” he said.
Kapoloma said although they have managed to collect close to K5 billion, the authority estimated to collect about K13 billion in the VCW exercise, raising hope of meeting the target if the business people cooperate with MRA to settle their taxes.
He, therefore, encouraged tax payers to utilize the remaining 10 days to settle their taxes to avoid being penalized.
“This is a great opportunity for the business community to actually save their money because MRA is forgoing all the taxes they incurred. They need to utilize the remaining days to file their application because after October 31, their applications will not be considered for VCW,” said Kapoloma.
He also encouraged those that had their applications approved to honour their payments so that they can move on with the process considering that they are given six months to pay in installments.
According to Kapoloma, among the 1, 176 applicants the authority only approved 180 applications, arguing that they only processed the small percentage because it’s a long process to clear someone.
However, he assured all applicants that their applications will be approved within the expected time frame, saying that once the exercise is done, they expect business people to comply with the tax laws after the window is closed.
MRA is expected to waive about K2.17 billion with the current waiver standing at K462.4 million
