TRA enhances efficiency through ICT technology

DAR ES SALAAM: TANZANIA Revenue Authority (TRA) has made substantial investment in Information Communication Technology (ICT) to enhance efficiency, accountability, transparency and easing collection of government revenue.

One of the areas where these improvements have been made is in Electronic Tax Stamps (ETS) which has been integrated with TRA systems to obtain accurate production/import statistics in terms of quantity, volume as well as product quality and standards.

TRA wants to encourage citizens who consume these products to participate in protecting their health by identifying genuine and legal products for their consumption.

Also due to Tax collectors being faced with the challenge of distinguishing the true tax rates for existing production, the TRA thought of finding another modern and accurate way to face the challenge.

That is why SICPA firm was given that responsibility and came up with the Electronic Stamp System (ETS), and to achieve its performance, TRA set several phases for the system implementation, whereby in the first phase the system which was launched on January 15, 2019, ETS were placed on 19 companies that produce alcohol, wine and spirits products in the country.

And the second phase that began on August 1, 2019 was placed on products such as flavoured water and other non-alcoholic beverages.

In an interview with the TRA Project Manager for the ETS System, Innocent Minja held early last year, he said the main objective of finding a new tax collection system and the launch of the ETS three years ago is to protect government revenue and help users of liquid products to protect their health.

“We had a big challenge in tax collection due to people being disloyal and lack of seriousness in voluntary tax payment.

“Initially we had to assign our officers to check the production and make sure that the manufacturers declare the true production levels. However, the situation had many challenges and seemed harsh, so we needed a new solution,” said Minja.

He disclosed that there are some producers who are not faithful about their production, causing unfair competition for their products in the market with those who are faithful and paying the right tax.

Minja further disclosed that the ETS system over the past three years has strengthened tax payment and strengthened fair competition in the market.