Browsing: Tra

• Tanzania sugar shortage is sparking unrelenting hike in prices.
• The government of Tanzania has approved the import of over 100,000 tonnes of sugar.
• President Samia has pledged to increase sugar production by 2025.

A biting sugar shortage in Tanzania is causing the price of the commodity to skyrocket over the last few months. On the one hand, the sugar shortage is blamed on heavy rains at the end of last year while on the other hand, there are allegations of hoarding and price setting by industry cartels.

With little to no evidence of the latter, the speculations remain just that, mere allegations. However, what is undisputed is sugar shortage and the attendant surge in prices for the sweetener.

Sugar shortage in Tanzania has persisted for almost an entire year now. So profound is the problem that President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan was forced to issue a public statement explaining the …

• More than $33 million was poorly spent by various Tanzania government institutions including through inappropriate allowances to staff, audit shows.
• Lugalo Hospital, an institution belonging to Tanzania’s military, paid over $14,000 to a supplier for consultation and design without charging withholding tax.
• Corrupt officials in Tanzania’s Ministry of Health paid over $8 million to Toyota Tanzania and UNICEF for the purchase of motor vehicles that were never delivered.

Tanzania could be hurtling towards a fiscal risk as an increasing number of loss-making state-owned enterprises turn into avenues for plunder and embezzlement of public funds by corrupt public servants.

The latest audit report by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) and Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) shows hundreds of state-owned enterprises in Tanzania are in the soup for sanctioning graft-ridden transactions leading to the loss of millions of public money.

The rot starts from the top. Take for instance, …

As a low-middle-income country, Tanzania is fairly doing its best in financing its development efforts by utilising its internal funding strategies, and tax is a part of that.

In the past five years, under the leadership of the late President John Magufuli, Tanzania broke its revenue collection record and managed to self-finance nearly 40 per cent of dividends collected from companies it holds a stake in.

Earlier last year, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) hit a record collection of 100.02 per cent of its total revenue in December 2019, of which it exceeded its monthly target, which was more than $860 million.

Read: Tanzania considers tax breaks to cushion economy

“This is the highest score for a particular month since an establishment of TRA” the former TRA Commissioner General, Dr Edwin Mhede noted.

According to the former taxman, this magnificent record-breaking achievement was a fruit of hard labour put on enforcement …

Tanzania has introduced the use of Electronic Tax Stamps (ETS) water bottles and soft, carbonated drinks. The move is meant to add on to the already registered increase in tax collection.

The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) reported earlier this year that it has seen a 34 percent increase in revenue collection thanks to the use of the Electronic Tax Stamps (ETS) on branded products.

The ETS system was first rolled out in Tanzania early last year (15 Jan 2019) after regulations was passed to have all manufacturers in the country install an electronic tax stamp management system.

The tender went to a Swiss-based firm called SICPA which was contracted by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to install and enroll all manufacturers, producers and importers onto the system.

To start with, the electronic stamps were used for cigarettes, wines, spirits, beer and other alcoholic beverages. It then begun to be applied …

Members of Parliament in Tanzania are urging the government to consider giving tax breaks to businesses in a bid to help them stay afloat.

Alternatively, the government is encouraged, through the Central Bank, to scrap interest on loans so that borrowers do not fall into default.

At the moment, despite the global slowdown, businesses are still operational but they are operating way below their year revenue projections. Already, at the start of the second quarter, the country is facing potentially huge loan defaults by both large corporations as well as small and medium sized companies.

Big businesses are now turning to the government to intervene. While the Central Bank, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has already issued a stimulus package for commercial banks, the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) is working on an arrangement to save large borrowers from mega defaults that would in effect ripple throughout the economy.

Commercial …

Tanzania’s ministry of finance revealed on Wednesday, that it was exploring various techniques, including fostering supervision of the use of Electronic Tax Stamps (ETS).

This is part of the government’s plans to raise revenue collections and speed up the process of creating an enabling environment for Tanzania’s industrialization journey, according to information from The Citizen.

It is another step taken by the Tanzanian government to enhance revenue collection to fund various development projects, as frequently rallied by the Tanzanian President John Magufuli.

Just last year, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) collected over $ 735 million in taxes in September 2019, the highest amount ever collected since the entity inception in 1996.

Tanzania’s Finance and Planning minister, Dr.Philip Mpango, presentation on the government’s development plan and budget framework estimates for 2020/21 financial year, revealed that Tanzania has experienced a significant rise in revenues during the first seven months of the 2019/2020, but …

Tanzania and World Bank have been close development partners for more than 54 years, and throughout the years—Tanzania has benefited from several funds that tap into the core of transforming the development landscape in one of the largest economies in East Africa.

According to World Bank, in the last 50 years, the cooperation between the Bank Group and the Government has grown in financing, grants, policy advice, and research; covering various areas from macroeconomic management to projects in transport, energy, education, health, and other key sectors for both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar’s development.

Recently the government of Tanzania has experienced a hard-time securing a $500 million education loan from World Bank, scheduled to revitalize the crucial sector in Tanzania.

The loan could be largest financial assistance provided to Tanzania within the past three years aimed at the education sector.

And yet—the loan has been delayed, in the wake of human …

Tax collection is pristine to Tanzania’s development landscape, that’s they the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) is striving to forge a Tanzanian success story via revenue collection which rose by 66.7 per cent in four years.

TRA Deputy Commissioner General Mr. Msafiri Mbibo announced yesterday during a press conference in  commercial-pulse Dar es Salaam that: during the last four  financial years, Tanzania has collected over $25.3 billion, pinning the raise to taxpayers compliance, arguing that, it is a direct result of transparency in the authority’s  operations and enhancing the overall tax administration system.

Tanzania has its fair share of taxing hurdles, just like any other African nation, as TRA pinpoints the weight of significant tax-paying lies on the shoulders of over 3 million taxpayers (by October 2019) in Tanzania, which rose from 2.2 million.

On the same note,  on Sunday November 24, Tanzania’s President John Magufuli, highlighted on the importance of …

Tanzanian President John Magufuli, has received $455.8 million (Tsh1.05 Trillion) as the governments dividend and revenue share from 79 entities that the government holds stake in.

According to the president, Tanzania’s government has invested over $25 billion in 266 entities in Tanzania.

The divided and revenue share handing was executed in the capital city-Dodoma witnessed by various several-top government officials and private sector influential actors including, the Ministry of Finance and Planning and financial institutions chiefs.

The government’s dividend and revenue shares offered which rose from over $293 million in the 2016/2017 financial year, $365.5 million in  2017/2018 to over $455.8 million in the  2018/2019 financial year and sadly, the contribution has been dominated by a fraction of entities, as 187 out of 266 entities supposed to hand their contributions did not execute their fair contribution, due to operating under loss.

The top three contributors were Tanzania Ports Authority with …

The Tanzanian gaming sector has been taking tremendous shifts over the past five years, witnessing various investors taking a bite into Tanzania’s gaming market with open hands.

According to the ongoing prospects in the gaming industry in Tanzania, it is worth exploring the scenario that: gaming activities might have a substantial contribution to Tanzania’s Revenue Authority (TRA) tax collections.

More importantly, the Tanzanian government is having an all-out strategy to enhance its revenue collection, hence—it managed to score an all-time record of $ 762.4 million tax collection in September 2019.

Per Tanzania’s Ministry of Finance and Planning report, during the financial year 2018/2019, Tanzania garnered over $ 6 billion in tax revenue, whereas—the Gaming Board of Tanzania (GBT), indicates that the sector’s contribution to the government reached over $ 41 million in the fiscal year 2018/2019, compared to $ 33 million in 2017.

The gaming industry has witnessed a …