‘BURS surpasses collection targets’

10^th April 2025

Own Correspondent

Preliminary accounts by the Botswana Unified Revenue Service(BURS) indicate that the net tax revenue collected as at 31^st March 2025 amounts to P61.097 billion, surpassing the target of P58.704 billion by P2.393 billion (4.08%).

“The positive outturn was primarily driven by positive collections in Value Added Tax (VAT) and Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Receipts, which offset a shortfall in Income Tax collections,” said Jeanette C. Makgolo, BURS Commissioner General.

She said, “Income Tax underperformed during the period, with actual collections reaching P18.968 billion against a target of P20.714 billion. This resulted in a shortfall of P1.745 billion and a performance rate of 91.58%, underscoring the continued need to strengthen compliance and enforcement efforts in this tax type.”

The underperformance in this category can be attributed to challenges in the mining sector, including low global demand for diamonds, unfavorable diamond prices, and stockpiling by diamond dealers. As for Non-Mineral Income Tax poor performance can possibly be attributed to subdued domestic economic activity, contraction in taxable profits, and emerging challenges in tax compliance.

Conversely, Value Added Tax (VAT) exceeded its target by recording P14.455 billion against target of P11.280 billion. This collection surpassed the target by P3.175 billion or 28.15%. This outstanding performance suggests resilience in domestic consumption.

Similarly, SACU receipts surpassed its target by P855 million, with actual collections amounting to P27.566 billion against a target of P26.711 billion, representing 103.20% performance. This good performance is due to favourable exchange rate. 

BURS has revealed that it has therefore formulated a 5 year – transformative Strategic plan themed the “Delta – exploring the untapped revenue streams.” The key Strategic intent is to mobilise BWP120 Billion by 31st March 2029 through exploring the untapped revenue streams to counter over-reliance on the traditional streams.

Botswana’s Gross Domestic Product is reported to have declined by 3% in 2024 and the government will need every thebe for socio-economic sustenance of the nation.

Jeanette C. Makgolo, BURS Commissioner General, “We are alive to the fact that tax revenue is a function of economic activity, as such a poorly performing economy is expected to yield low tax returns. This explains the reason why the initial target of P70.575 billion set by the government was revised to P58,704 billion during the budget speech.”

She said, “We developed a multifaceted Revenue Mobilisation Strategy aimed at bridging the collection gap created by poor performance by the traditional revenue streams. The devised strategy embedded interventions that are rooted in real-world, actionable steps that directly impact day-to-day operations and accelerate revenue collection, minimize any revenue leakages and close any tax gaps.”

The Revenue mobilisation strategy is premised on establishing Revenue performance monitoring structures, and these include: the Revenue management committee, Revenue mobilisation committee and a Revenue collection War room to facilitate revenue for daily strategising on collection measures.

1.  The adopted interventions for revenue mobilisation included the following amongst others:

1. Collection of outstanding returns and overdue payments across all tax types.
2. Introduction of the Multi-Disciplinary Block Management Unit: Officials from this unit were deployed to inspect all business operations across the country to ascertain tax compliance by companies, professionals and individuals. The Unit also conducted Strategic operations targeting Cash economy (Cash and carry retailers).

3. Monitoring of high risk and high value customs consignments particularly those in transit to close revenue leakages that mostly result from diversion of goods into the local market without payment of applicable taxes and customs duties

4. Enforcing stringent controls on all bonded warehouses to close revenue leakages from bonded goods that are yet to be taxed.

5. Intensifying physical searches at all commercial border posts and international airports to detect any forms of smuggling and any other non-compliance.

6. Strategic deployment of tactical intervention teams (Canine and Flexible anti-smuggling Teams (FAST)) to deal with customs offences.

7. Intensifying Stakeholder engagement and taxpayer education: In an effort to stimulate and promote voluntary compliance, BURS embarked on a robust Stakeholder engagement program and Taxpayer Education Outreach programs to educate the public on their tax obligations and the importance of paying tax.

8. Establishment of a Mobile Tax Unit: BURS procured Mobile tax vehicles to enhance the outreach, publicity and taxpayer education. Through this office, BURS is able to reach taxpayers in remote areas to ensure fulfilment of their obligations that included payment of outstanding taxes which may have been impeded by distance from established BURS offices. An official launch of these mobile vehicles has been included in todays program, from which they will embark on a nationwide quest for service delivery.

BURS continues to facilitate imports and exports across borders for the stimulation of the economy through timely facilitation of raw materials and machinery.

During the Financial year 2025/26 the government has entrusted BURS with collecting a total amount of P60.475 billion. BURS intends to pursue this target by embracing several initiatives aimed at broadening the tax base and enhancing compliance. These include the following:

1. Introduction of track and trace technology for excisable goods,
2. Transit monitoring system to prevent diversion and local dumping of transit-declared goods, 
3. Adoption of an electronic VAT billing system
4. Introduction of Taxation of VAT on digital platforms
5. taxpayer education to be expanded across the country to foster greater awareness and understanding of tax obligations.
6. Authorised

“We are alive to the fact that BURS is expected to be efficient, if not nimble and agile, in its taxes and customs domestic revenue collection endeavours. I am here to tell you that the trust placed on us is not misplaced. The Board and management sing from the same hymn book (that is, to say aligned) in as far as nimbleness and agility are concerned,” said Dr Lesedi S Senatla, BURS Board Chairperson.

He said, “It is worth emphasising the fact that BURS has consistently and with utmost devotion, delivered on its mandate over the years, even where economic and financial conditions were unfavorable. We say this with humility of course, I must add, just to be clear.”

Dr Senatla said not only attain the set revenue target of P58.704 billion for the just ended financial year, but surpassed it by 4.08%. The P2.3 billion above target collection is a welcome development in so far as providing for our social programs is concerned.

Despite our achievements, BURS is not resting on its laurels, as they say, for a lot more  work lies ahead to enhance tax revenue mobilization and improve collection efficiency ratios.

Senatla observed that for the first time in the last 5 years, on average 75% of the government’s resource envelope came from the revenue collected by BURS. Second, that in the current financial year 2025/26, BURS is entrusted with collecting P60.475 billion or 80.10% of the P75.490 billion total revenue and grants needed for financing government projects and programmes. Watch the space on this one.

The Ministry in collaboration with BURS is currently finalising the comprehensive review of 3 pieces of tax legislation, namely, the Tax Administration Bill, the Value Added Tax ACT and the Income Tax ACT legislation with a view to ensuring that these important pieces of legislations anchor the efficacy of domestic tax revenue mobilization in the modern society.

BURS will also embark on 3 major initiatives namely introducing VAT of digital trade to broaden the VAT tax base within the rapidly growing digital economy and seeks to promote fair taxation by ensuring a level playing field where both traditional and digital businesses are subject to the same tax obligations. The project is anticipated to be completed by September 2025.

It will also introduce an innovative Electronic VAT Invoicing Solution as part of improving revenue collection efficiency.This project will enable real-time tracking of VAT transactions, benefiting both businesses and BURS by enhancing compliance and ensuring accurate reporting. The planned completion date for the project is March 2026.

The development of a fiscal marking and monitoring solution, commonly known as track & trace, to enforce compliance, curb illicit trade in excisable goods and safeguard government revenue.

This solution aims to ensure compliance with Excise regulations while minimizing disruptions to legitimate business activities and safeguarding consumers from illicit goods. The project will be completed in September 2025.