TRA acting commissioner general Alphayo Kidata
The state-run Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) said in a public
notice yesterday that all petrol stations in Tanzania must have the
special electronic fiscal devices (EFDs) installed by March 1 this
year.
“These special EFDs will be directly connected to (the) fuel
pumps,” TRA acting commissioner general Alphayo Kadata said in the
statement.
He warned that oil marketing companies that fail to heed the
directive would face stern penalties, including the shutting down of
their petrol stations.
The TRA announcement came just days after the government, via prime
minister Kassim Majaliwa, suspended two senior officials of the
state-run Weight and Measures Agency (WMA) after it was revealed that
oil flow metres at the Dar es Salaam port had remained unused for the
past five years.
The metres were supposed to monitor fuel imports into the country for purposes of ensuring proper government revenue collection.
An official investigation has been launched into allegations that
some oil marketing companies might have colluded with unscrupulous
public officials to sabotage the oil flow metres and deny the government
its rightful revenue.
The suspended officials are the WMA chief executive officer (CEO),
Magdalena Chuwa, and the agency’s Dar es Salaam port manager, Bernadina
Mwijarubi.
Oil accounts for the single biggest import in Tanzania, and it has also been proven as a source of massive tax evasion.
The Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) is
investigating one local oil marketing company alleged to have evaded
around 8.5 billion/- in taxes by diverting transit fuel into the
domestic market.
The government hopes that the setting up of fully-functioning oil
flow metres at the Dar es Salaam port and EFDs at petrol stations to
monitor oil imports and actual fuel sales at the pumps will help to
control the sector better.
According to the latest Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic
review, the cost of oil imports in the year ending November 2015 fell by
22 percent to $2.86 billion, largely as a result of plunging global
crude oil prices.
The ongoing crackdown on oil tax dodgers who were virtually
untouchable during the eras of previous governments has been one of the
cornerstones of current president John Magufuli’s crusade to boost
government revenue collection all-round since he took office in early
November last year.
Among tough measures he has already implemented towards this goal
was to sack or suspend several senior public officials, including the
bosses of both the TRA and the Tanzania Ports Authority, pending
investigations into claims of corruption related to the collection of
government tax.
CREDIT:
THE GUARDIAN
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