THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has recovered about
$90 million in unpaid taxes through the whistleblower facility over the past 10
years as it makes concerted efforts to mop up revenue from non-compliant
businesses.
Zimra head corporate communications Mr Francis Chimanda
told Sunday News Business in emailed responses that the whistle-blower facility
had played a significant role in assisting them to recover revenue from
non-compliant taxpayers.
“The whistleblower facility has been effective in that it
has assisted Zimra in quickly exposing non-compliant taxpayers who prejudice
the State of revenue. By its nature, the facility results in expeditious conclusion
of cases as the information and evidence supplied by whistleblowers is, in most
instances, very accurate and takes less resources to confirm,” he said.
The Government in 2001 introduced the whistleblower
facility to enable informants to share information on such malpractices as tax
avoidance and evasion by individuals and companies that compromised tax revenue
collections. Under the facility, persons who submit information leading to the
recovery of undeclared tax revenue are entitled to a reward equivalent to 10
percent of the amount recovered.
“The amount paid to the whistleblowers from 2009 to date as
rewards is $7,7 million. From 2009 to date we have recovered $87,9 million
through the whistleblower facility,” said Mr Chimanda.
Zimra has come up with a number of measures and strategies
to ensure that only deserving informants are rewarded through the Whistle
Blower Facility. This was after Finance and Economic Development Minister
Professor Mthuli Ncube raised concern in his 2019 National Budget statement
that the initiative was prone to abuse.
“There are procedures in place to guide the reward to
informants, thorough interviews are conducted on potential whistleblowers
reporting cases to determine eligibility. Whistleblowers are required to submit
credible evidence to support the alleged tax evasion and information submitted
should be specific, leading to the quick detection of the reported offence,”
said Mr Chimanda.
The whistleblower laws are enshrined in the Zimra Act
(Chapter 23:11) under Section 34 B. According to Section 34 B, subsection 2 of
the Act, the commissioner-general may, with the approval of the Finance
Minister, award any person, not being an employee of the authority, or a near
relative of an employee of the authority, a monetary reward for information
provided or any measure taken which results in detection of smuggling or any
illegal and underhand activities and of the recovery of revenue which would otherwise
have been lost. Mr Chimanda also said an internal lifestyle audit carried out
at the revenue collector in 2019 led to the recovery of ill-gotten wealth by
some of its officers.
“The lifestyle audits have been successful. They have led
to recovery of proceeds of crime as they revealed officers who were living
outside their means. A total of 34 officers failed lifestyle audits in 2019 and
appropriate action was taken,” he said.
A lifestyle audit is conducted on all Zimra employees
including management. Quarterly plans are developed and lifestyle audits are
carried out accordingly. Sunday News
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