Farai Mabeza, Senior Staff Writer 
THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) says the implementation of its new domestic Tax and Revenue Management System (TaRMS) is 80 percent complete.
TaRMS is designed to address significant shortcomings under the current system and to improve further the country’s ease of doing business climate.
Current system challenges cut across the core functions of the domestic taxes division in terms of taxpayer registration, tax returns filing, and processing, tax payments and revenue accounting, debt management, audit and risk, and case management and reports.
Regina Chinamasa, Commissioner General ZIMRA
Zimra has also confirmed that TaRMS would be integrated with the civil registry, Registrar of Companies, and banks for validation of information.
Integration with the Registrar of Companies will assist Zimra to grow the taxpayer base as all registered companies will be automatically registered in TaRMS.
Taxpayer registration will now be automatic for all entities and all tax types except those requiring Zimra approval, according to the tax collector.
“By the end of December 2023, we had delivered 80 percent of the system. We are working in collaboration with our users, tax payers, tax agents, and others to ensure that the system is up to date.
“The 80 percent constitutes the registration model and all the functionalities for tax administration purposes which include the payment modules, return submission modules, debt management modules and also the financial side of it.
“The next phase is looking at incorporating the tax agent module which will enhance monitoring of our tax agents who file on behalf of taxpayers,” Zimra commissioner general Regina Chinamasa told The Financial Gazette this week.
“The last phase which we are targeting by end of Q3 is looking at integrations with other stakeholders. We have started the integrations on the first 80 percent. We have integrated with the civil registry to enable the registration and we have also integrated with the company registry and deeds office. So the last phase is looking at integration with other stakeholders.”
Among its features, TaRMS will automatically maintain the taxpayer’s ledger. It will automatically identify refunds for processing, assess any outstanding liabilities (returns and payments), discover unpaid obligations, and maintain accounts automatically since a tax liability reported on the return is settled straight from the single account.
The system will calculate interest daily, update and display the amount in the taxpayer ledger, and post penalties from the due date to the taxpayer ledger.
If the taxpayer has made any necessary corrections, the system will be able to automatically reverse interest and penalties on any adjusted/amended tax liabilities. It will send reminders for payments and returns before, on, and beyond the due date, based on the escalation methods.
Meanwhile, Zimra has said it will also upgrade the Asycuda system in the customs division, coupled with the implementation of the single window which is a platform to include broader stakeholders into one automated platform for ease of doing business.
“So, with the integrations that are coming in, we see a lot of scope for us to include ease of doing business. The Asycuda will still be integrated into TaRMS. So, we are using a single team for the importation and exportation of goods.
“That information is also linked to domestic taxes. For us the digitalisation journey, which is looking at improving our core systems, bringing enhancement and integrations across will help us have one of source of information,” Chinamasa said.
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