The Vice Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) Board, Mr Percy Toriro, addressed delegates at the 12^th Annual Conference of the Shipping and Forwarding Agents’ Association of Zimbabwe (SFAAZ), which was held from 20-21 July 2017 in Mutare.

Held under the theme, “Stakeholder to Agent Partnership: Ease of Doing Business in Zimbabwe”, the Annual Conference was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, ZIMTRADE, clearing and forwarding agents and ZIMRA officials.

“Tax revenue is a function of economic performance and efficiency in tax collection. While economic performance is an exogenous factor beyond the control of [the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority], the efficiency in collection is an endogenous factor”.

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority’s (ZIMRA) efforts to curb tax and duty corruption through the establishment of the anti-corruption hotline in May last year are beginning to bear fruits as the Authority has so far recovered  $120 million in assessments.

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) has surpassed the US$1.656 billion revenue target for the first half of 2017 by 2.72 per cent after net collections totalled US$1.701 billion  on the back of intensified enforcement efforts by the Authority in order to improve collections.

Gross collections for the First Half of 2017 were US$1.789 billion, 8.05% above the target of US$1.656 billion. Net collections, after deducting refunds to the magnitude of US$88.16 million, amounted to US$1.701 billion, yielding a positive variance of 2.72% above the target. This translated to an increase of 9.74% compared to US$1.550 billion collected over the First Half of 2016.