Hundreds turn up for TIN verification in Dar

DAILY NEWS Reporters

TRA Director of Education and Taxpayer Services, Mr Richard Kayombo

HUNDREDS of people yesterday turned up for verification of Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) in Dar es Salaam as the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) reiterated that there will be no more deadline extension for the exercise.

TRA Director for Taxpayer Services and Education, Mr Richard Kayombo, told the ‘Daily News’ in Dar es Salaam yesterday that TIN holders who did not meet the deadline yesterday would not get access to services which entail TIN.

“After today’s deadline, we will block all unverified TINs, therefore, TIN holders who did not validate their TIN will not get access to the services which involve TIN,” said the TRA director for taxpayer services.

Mr Kayombo said it was vital to conduct TIN verification exercise to include some important personal details in TRA database, pointing out that the personal details were lacking in existing TIN. “The verification exercise also aims to unravel the problem of double TIN possession to some people,” he added.

He said the TINs verification would be extended to other regions after finalising the exercise in Dar es Salaam, saying TRA will soon issue the TIN verification timetable for other regions. According to Mr Kayombo, failure to verify information will lead to removal of the TIN in the system and it will no longer be valid.

“TIN holders who did not validate their information during the TIN verification will have to report to TRA offices,” he said.

The deadline for TIN verification exercise in Dar es Salaam was extended to January 31 after the first deadline last November saw many city dwellers failing to meet the deadline.

TIN holders were supposed to verify their information at any designated centres. Survey by this newspaper revealed that that there was a large number of people who showed up for the verification process yesterday, which was the deadline of the exercise in Dar es Salaam.

Acting TRA officer-incharge at the National Stadium TIN verification centre, Mr John Lusheleja, revealed that a big number of people relaxed after time for the verification exercise was extended

. “Our centre can attend 700 people per day, but after it was announced that the exercise will be extended, very few people attended before others started showing up in big numbers in the closing days of last week,” he told reporters.

According to him, from November 31, last year to mid-January, this year, the centre experienced a shortage of people who showed up for the exercise, with the attendance average that ranged at 700 saw only between 100 and 150 people attending.

On her part, the Millenium Tower TIN verification centre officer-in-charge, Ms Evelyne Lwendo, said she was not surprised by the response of people who filled her centre as they experienced the same situation during the first days before the exercise was extended.

“The exercise was supposed to end on October 15, last year, but when the deadline approached we experienced big numbers of people who turned-up for the exercise on October 10.