. Sikalinda

By JAJAH COULIBALY –
SOME shop assistants in Lusaka’s Kamwala trading area have disclosed how their foreign bosses tell them to rarely issue till receipts to customers to minimise revenue expenses.
One of the workers who sought anonymity explained that his boss of Chinese origin warned not to issue automated receipts to every customer but only when the customer demanded for it.
“On these receipts we give from the till, he says he pays more at the Zambia Revenue Authority if the number of receipts are a lot and again he says we must at least issue some in a day even at least 10 or less, but in a day we have more than 100 customers,” he said.
Another cashier at a plastic products shop disclosed that their manager advised them to issue hand-written receipts and only use the till on small items with lower prices.
Both sources said the vice had been on-going for years and that more shop owners had embraced the illegality as it was benefiting the sellers.
ZRA corporate communications manager Topsy Sikalinda warned that that was stealing the country’s much-needed revenue and was a crime.
“To curb such illegal activities, ZRA will in the third or last quarter of this year roll out the fiscalisation project that will see all tills in the country automated and data captured by the authority,” he said.
Mr Sikalinda said the revenue authority was also expanding it’s enforcement team and that more enforcement officers were currently undergoing training.
“There are two principles in tax, and that is compliance and enforcement and compliance is cheaper and we want to see compliance from all sectors,” Mr Sikalinda said.
He appealed to business persons to be compliant on tax issues as it was the cheapest and most free way of conducting business.