“We are going to do a street-to-street
and corridor-to-corridor operation to ensure that business people use
the EFDs. We will take to task all dishonest traders,” the TRA
Commissioner for Domestic Revenue, Mr Elijah Mwandumbya, said.
He called on the business people who do
not have the EFDs to go and collect them as they are given for free.
“These devices will help the government to earn proper income and
eventually save lost revenue,” he said.
Speaking over the status of distribution
of the EFDs, Mr Mwandumbya said they have supplied a total of 5,703
devices to traders whose business turnover range between 14m/- and
100m/-.
The authority’s decision to conduct the
operation comes barely a week after President John Magufuli revealed
that an investigation has established that a businessman, who is in
custody, created a fake tax system using the EFDs and printed and sold
to traders fake receipts.
The tax syndicate alone has denied the government of at least a trillion shillings over the past three years.
According to TRA Commissioner General
(CG) Alphayo Kidata, the investigation conducted with the Prevention and
Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) has established that four
companies jointly evaded income tax and value added tax (VAT) amounting
to 29bn/- between 2010 and 2014.
Mr Kidata said yesterday that the four
companies, which are in the hands of the security organs, have been
ordered to pay the money after which they would also face legal measures
for violating the country’s laws.
In line with the operation, the PCCB
said recently that it was investigating other 228 companies. There are
reports that three prominent businessmen linked to an EFD tampering
syndicate have been arrested in Arusha and transferred to Dar es Salaam
for further interrogations.
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