[ad_1]
The Malawi Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has approved the long-awaited rollout of digital tax invoices by the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA).
Making full use of digital tax invoices is an effective way to prevent the smuggling of goods into the country.
On Tuesday, August 5, 2024, PAC Chairman Mark Botomani supported the implementation of the exercise in the capital, Lilongwe, after inspecting the MRA warehouse and unknown routes used by smugglers.
Botomani said since the committee now had actual experience of how people smuggled goods into Malawi, there would be no problem for the Malawi Revenue Authority to use tax stamps on the products, saying doing so would also protect other traders.
“After today’s inspection, we found that the problem of smuggling is serious and the only solution is to introduce different mechanisms like tax stamps. No country can function without tax revenue and the MRA needs our support.
“Most likely, the stamp duty issue has the potential to reduce smuggling and it is the only solution because the government loses a lot of money due to smuggled goods. It is tax evasion. The MRA should continue to sensitize the public on the issue,” Botomani said.
MRA Commissioner John Bizwick said the goal of the digital tax stamp is to protect local industries and consumers from unfair competition from illegal, smuggled and counterfeit taxable products.
The idea is also to ensure consumers are not exposed to unbranded and potentially dangerous imported products that could pose a health hazard, he said.
“The local industry will be protected from unfair competition from smuggled products as only legal products will be labelled and only legal products will be allowed to enter the market.
“The market share of products produced in Malawi has been negatively impacted due to smuggling. By introducing the tax stamp, the local industry will be protected from competition from smuggled products,” he explained.
Just a day earlier, another committee on Industry, Trade and Tourism, headed by Paul Nkhoma, took the same step following an inspection on Monday.
The tax stamp is printed on the product to indicate not only that the manufacturer has fulfilled its tax obligations but also that the product is fit for human consumption.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, August 7, the Malawi Revolutionary Alliance (MRA) along with the “Malawi First, People First” pressure group and concerned business operators in the country passed a resolution to halt planned demonstrations against the tax stamps.
MRA Corporate Affairs Director Steve Capoloma told a press conference that the three agencies recognised that smuggling was a huge challenge that undermined the interests of small and medium enterprises and the delivery of public services, and therefore, the tax stamps should only be used to protect business and national interests.
The MRA launched the much-awaited expanded GST stamp system (digital stamp) on Friday, May 10, 2024, to enhance the tracking and tracing of GST payments.
This development comes following amendments to the Customs and Excise Act (2021).
The GST stamp duty system was gazetted in January 2024 and will be fully implemented from 1 May 2024.
The Enhanced Excise Stamp is a highly secure sticker or label that is affixed or printed directly onto excise products using special ink.
Currently, governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda are implementing digital tax invoices.
The expansion of Malawi’s excise stamp duty will broadly help monitor the supply chain of specific excisable goods, detect infiltration of illegal flows, and protect the local manufacturing industry from unfair competition posed by counterfeit and smuggled products.
Follow and subscribe to Nyasa TV:
[ad_2]
Source link
