BURS exceeds revenue collection target

Collections surpass target by P634 million Transformation to improve collection further underway Commissioner General says BURS is smarting from bad press As at end of September 2022, Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) made a collection of P23.9 billion for the financial year 2022/2023, surpassing the target it set for itself of P23.2 billion by P634 million or 2.7 percent. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,2,3,4" ihc_mb_template="1" ] According to Commissioner General Jeanette Makgolo, in comparison to the corresponding period of 2021/2022, the current overall revenue collections represent an increase of P6.6 billion or 38.1 percent. “This performance is not a windfall,” she told journalists at a press conference in Gaborone this week. “It is a product of hard work and commitment in addressing performance gaps as well as responding to the current business challenges.” The press conference was mainly called to give a progress update of BURS’ transformation agenda. Makgolo said BURS’ transformation is in line with aspirations of the country to transform from an upper-middle income into a high-income status economy as envisioned in Vision 2036. “Our role with respect to these aspirations of the government is to mobilise resources in the form of taxes and to facilitate trade for free and efficient movement of goods and raw materials necessary for industrial production,” she noted. Key transformation initiatives that BURS has put in place include a digital marking and tracking solution whose introduction Makgolo said was prompted by influx of contraband, rife counterfeiting practices, self-regulation and market underpricing of goods, among others. “This new digital monitoring programme, once fully implemented, will be transformational for Botswana and help support excise revenue collections, benefitting all citizens and compliant industry players alike,” the Commissioner General said. To improve efficiency of VAT collection BURS is in the process of introducing an electronic billing system that will further minimise VAT fraud. Makgolo said benchmarking for the system was completed and a procurement process to engage a project manager for the implementation of the solution is underway. While the organisation did well in the last tax collection season, Makgolo raised concerns that growing negative media coverage of BURS was casting doubt on its reputation and the integrity of its officials. “Recent reports of VAT fraud incidents have been covered extensively by the media,” she said. “Investigations are ongoing with the assistance of other law enforcement agencies. We can only advise at this stage that the incident has caused us to review a number of our processes, particularly those that enable this type of incident to happen, and we are putting controls in place to ensure that fraudulent activities do not take place.” Two senior officials are currently on precautionary suspension on different accounts and investigations into the cases are ongoing, Makgolo disclosed. “However, at this juncture, we cannot share any information beyond that since the cases are still being investigated.” [/ihc-hide-content][ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,2,3,4" ihc_mb_template="1" ][/ihc-hide-content]

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