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MRA engages business on new tax measures

Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) has asked government to implement tax measures that will help local companies manufacture goods at competitive cost.

MCCCI chief executive officer Chancellor Kaferapanjira was speaking at a workshop Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) organised on Wednesday to engage business community on the new tax measures in the 2012/13 fiscal budget.

“How can businesses be protected? I have had a lot of delegations from companies that are saying they cannot compete anymore. They are saying Malawi cannot compete if the import duties are reduced this way.

“Unfortunately, protection cannot continue forever, a country can only protect to a certain level after which because we belong to a regional grouping. So, I think government must ensure that what is applied in other countries where we export our goods is also applied here. The issue is we need to become competitive, talk about issues that can make our companies produce at a competitive cost,” said Kaferapanjira.

MRA took the business community through various tax measures in this financial year and explained how the measures will be implemented.

MRA public relations and tax payer education manager, Steven Kapoloma, said the workshop has helped the business community to understand tax measures in 2012/13 budget.

“There were issues to do with the implementation of pensions that a number of stakeholders were not particularly aware of and there were also issues pertaining to withholding tax versus pay as you earn (Paye).

“With this meeting, I believe they will go out there with the understanding of how MRA is going to administer the measures. It will also help them minimise penalties, but they are also going to implement these new taxes in a better and fair way because they now know procedures to follow,” he said.

Society of Accountants in Malawi (Socam) chief executive officer Daniel Dunga commended government for removing some controversial taxes.

“We have noted the effort that government has put in place in this budget to remove all the controversial and sticky tax areas. If government has taken positive steps, we need to acknowledge that and as business community, we will take advantage of it,” said Dunga.

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