MRA has made tremendous progress as it clocks 23 years in service

* During the 2022 third quarter, MRA missed the target by approximately K4 billion

* As they anticipated to collect over K396 billion but only managed to collect K391 billion, representing 96%

* The under-collection can be attributed to several factors, among them, shortage of power supply that impacted local production

* And shortage of fuel that the country experienced during that quarter that also affected businesses

“However, this still is a huge achievement looking at where we are coming from

By Tikondane Vega, MANA

As Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) clocks 23 years in service, having rebranded from Customs & Excise, the tax collecting body has made tremendous progress and will continue to do so in the interest of Malawi’s economy.

This was said by MRA Commissioner General, John Bizwick in Blantyre on Wednesday during a press briefing informing the public on how the organisation has performed in the 3rd quarter of 2022.

He said during the 2022 third quarter, MRA missed the target by approximately K4 billion as they anticipated to collect over K396 billion but only managed to collect K391 billion, representing 96%.

“The under-collection can be attributed to several factors, among them, shortage of power supply that impacted local production and shortage of fuel that the country experienced during that quarter that also affected businesses.

“However, this still is a huge achievement looking at where we are coming from. During the previous years, in its early stages, MRA could collect K15 billion the whole year but now we are talking of over a trillion per year. We are very happy with what we have achieved for the past 23 years,” he said.

During the month of January 2023, MRA collected K161 billion beating the projected target with K16 billion and out of the K161 billion collected, K124 billion originated from domestic transactions.

“Mathematically, you would see that within four months from October 2022 to January 2023, MRA has collected over K553 billion. Some of these successes can be attributed to improvement in fuel availability, enforcement, engagement with stakeholders and dedication of staff members.

“Going forward, we would like people to see MRA as a friendly stakeholder and not an enemy to the public — so that at 23 years and above we should continue to increase revenue collection.”

MRA collected K748 billion between April to September 2022 against a Treasury target of K742 billion, representing a 101% performance.

Taxation expert, Emmanuel Kaluluma told the media that, generally, in its operations, MRA is more efficient — but he cautioned that government should be prudent on expenditure.

“It is good to learn how MRA is fairing,” he said. “However, government should tread carefully on use of the public purse. Otherwise, stealing the same money will discourage tax payers from complying.”

MRA which has over 1, 500 employees across the country, has moved from manual to electronic transaction.

In September last year, MRA joined the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to launch the pilot phase of SADC e-certificate of origin — an electronically processed document that attests that goods declared by an exporter conform to rules of origin.

This is in order to simplify customs procedures and facilitate smooth trade amongst member states to increase the flow of inter-regional trade, support regional industrialization as well as regional economic development — as per the criteria provided in the SADC protocol on trade.

At the launch in Blantyre, SADC Secretariat’s director of finance, investment and customs, Sadwick Mtonakutha said the system complements the dream of the African continental free trade area and SADC as a block, contributes immensely to the continental picture.

Thus the e-certificate of origin is part of consolidating the SADC free trade area which is a building block to a continental free trade area.

In his remarks, Biziwick said the system would help in eliminating some of the challenges faced with the manual way of business, that include delays and overhead costs incurred by exporters.

Biziwick assured that MRA adopted the new system in order to improve the ranking on the ease of doing business index as Malawi then ranked on 109 out of 190 countries in the world.

The system, that was approved by the SADC committee of Ministers of Trade in 2019, was launched under the theme: ‘Enhancing trade facilitation through the SADC electronic certificate of origin’, includes registration of exporters, stamps and signatures — being done at businesspersons’ comfort of their offices and homes.

The system will also allow manufacturers, producers and exporters to electronically register their products for preferential treatment and to increase the seamless flow of intra-trade across the region by eliminating impediments caused by the manual process that has been archived from this day.

MRA has also enhanced the implementation of Msonkho Online — the integrated tax administration system — which was rolled out to automate MRA services more particularly under the Domestic Taxes Division.

It enables the taxpayer access various services that include registration, submission of tax returns, applications of tax refunds and other services and available 24/7.—Additional reporting by Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express