‘50% rise in Malawi’s tea earnings meaningless’
The Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) collected K26.9 billion in January, beating its revised target of K22.9 billion for the month by about K4 billion.
After barely meeting its December 2012 target, the public tax collector last January collected K15.9 billion in income and profits, K8.5 billion from value added tax (VAT) and excise duties and K2.4 billion from international trade, beating its targets in all these areas.
The Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) executive director Nelson Mkandawire said MRA’s beating of the target may signal that the economy is slowly picking up.
“This is a good development on two fronts. First, if we collect more locally our dependence on donor aid will be reduced and certainly that is good news. Secondly, it might be an indication that the economy is on track and businesses have started performing,” said Mkandawire.
He, however, said there is need to be careful because the increase in revenue may be due to aggressive efforts by MRA to collect revenue.
MRA corporate affairs deputy director Steven Kapoloma in an e-mailed response on Friday said the performance is a result of improved compliance in the corporate sector.
But he said they still have compliance challenges in the retail sector.
“What is important is that all taxpayers must comply with the tax laws by remitting the correct amount of taxes due,” he said.
The January tax revenue of K26.9 billion is way above the December 2012 revenue of K20.1 billion.
From July 2012 to January 2013, MRA has collected K151.4 billion out of a targeted revised gross collection of K147 billion, beating its target for the period by about K4.5 billion.
The January tax outturn indicates that MRA collected K5.8 billion in pay as you earn (Paye), K7.5 billion in corporate tax, K6.1 billion in VAT and K2.4 billion in excise duties performing above targets in all these.
In December, however, MRA missed its target on corporate tax by about half a billion kwacha and in fringe benefits and nonresident tax by K119 million.
It also struggled to meet its target on VAT and excise duties, collecting K8.79 billion, which is K394 million below its projection.
