By TRYNESS MBALE
THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has been called upon to scale up tax education to enable the public make informed business decisions.
The Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors (ABCEC) notes that currently, there is no literature on incentives such as cash accounting on value added tax (VAT), and other industry specific taxes applicable on importation of equipment.
The ABCEC president Michael Nyirenda said at the launch of the Contractor Magazine in Ndola recently that the literature would be beneficial to disseminate information to associations, bidding and registration points such as the National Council for Construction and insurance companies.
“There is need to scale up tax education so that contractors and other stakeholders can make informed business decisions. ZRA, as an agent of Government in the collection of revenue, would do well to fill the information gap so that contractors can know that the government has a mitigation measure for delayed payments,” he said.
He said the literature would go a long way in assisting Government collect more money from the public because they would have the knowledge.
Mr Nyirenda called on ZRA to assign specific officers to handle applications for cash accounting of VAT to reduce on the cumbersome procedures.
“We would want that the same proposed officers become focal points for queries regarding tax matters as the general pool arrangement proves to be ineffective,” he said.
On the magazine, Mr Nyirenda said it will serve as a business pillar in communication on accurate reporting on both current and historic achievements of the construction industry.
He said through the magazine, the association hopes the history of construction will be unearthed.
“It would be interesting to learn of the untold stories behind the many magnificent structures that are still standing …It would be interesting to learn about the oldest buildings in Lusaka with Zinc sheets,” he said.