Zimra new tax system effective January 2024
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) says tax clearance certificates (ITF263s) will be accessible only through the newly introduced Tax and Revenue Management System (TaRMS) to compliant taxpayers effective January 1, 2024.
Zimra launched TaRMS in October this year, which is expected to benefit taxpayers and enhance compliance and trade facilitation by the tax authority.
TaRMS was introduced in response to several key challenges taxpayers were facing, including difficulties in filing returns, lack of data integrity, and cumbersome processes for tax payments and refunds.
Also meant to foster voluntary compliance and make tax management more straightforward for the public, the system encompasses functions such as taxpayer registration, tax returns processing, tax payments, and debt management.
The authority has indicated that for clients to access their tax clearance certificates, taxpayers already in the Zimra master database should have claimed the Taxpayer Identity Number (TIN), and registered in TaRMS through the Self Service Portal (SSP).
The tax authority also urged clients who have never been issued a business partner (BP) number to get registered in the TaRMS system in order to access their tax clearances.
“All taxpayers are required to be up to date with their tax obligations, which include payment of tax and returns submission in order to be able to obtain their tax clearance certificates.
The on-boarding to the TaRMS platform by taxpayers who had BP numbers prior to October 12, 2023 is currently in progress, and should be completed by November 15, 2023, to allow smooth migration of transaction data from the current system to TaRMS,” said Mr Misheck Govha, Zimra commissioner domestic taxes.
Zimra said taxpayers were to use the e-tax and e-service platforms to submit all their returns up to November 24, 2023, after which these two platforms will be shut down to allow migration to TaRMS. All facilities will be offered in TaRMS from December 1, 2023.
“All taxpayers are encouraged to contact their nearest Zimra offices should they face registration or ITF 263 issuance challenges. Taxpayers can also get in touch with the Zimra contact center on 585,” explained Mr. Govha.
With the new system, transaction data from the old systems will be migrated by the end of November 2023 and the old systems will be shut down for all transactions, according to Zimra.
The submission of tax returns and refund claims will only be done through TaRMS via the self-service portal.
-herald
