Few companies taking advantage of BURS Tax Amnesty

1^st December 2021

 Own Correspondent

 Less than 10% of those taxpayers with outstanding liabilities having come forward to take advantage of the Tax Amnesty scheme the newly appointed Commissioner General has revealed.

 The scheme started on the 1^st July 2021 and will come to an end on the 31^st December 2021.

 “Schemes such as this one do not occur often. I therefore plead with those taxpayers who have not yet taken advantage of the scheme to do so at the earliest opportunity. To that extent, BURS is amenable to taxpayers making payment plans,” said Jeanette Chanda Makgolo, Commissioner General of the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS),

 She said, “I must however remind those that enter into payment plans that they can only enjoy the  scheme if they have fully paid their principal liabilities before the end of the scheme.”

 In the Budget Speech of 1^st February 2021 the Minister of Finance and Economic Development proposed a Tax Amnesty Scheme for Income Tax and Value Added Tax.

 The objective of the Tax Amnesty Scheme is to ease the burden on taxpayers with outstanding tax liabilities, by granting them an opportunity to clear the total principal tax owed in exchange for write-off of interest and penalties charged during tax periods prior to 1^st July 2021.

 To benefit from the tax amnesty scheme, Batswana are required to:

 Confirm their tax liability with the nearest tax office or use our ICT platforms;

1. Make payment for the principal tax; and

• Inform the Commissioner General of full payment of the principal amount by completing a form that is available on the BURS website and email it to taxamnesty@burs.org.bw or if they are unable to, they may make manual submissions at all the BURS inland offices across the country.

 BURS has thanked all the taxpayers who have applied for the amnesty and urged more customers to come forward, e-file and e-pay their outstanding returns and submit copies of tax returns and proof of payments as and when requested to do so to aid quicker processing of their applications.

 “I therefore plead with those taxpayers who have not yet taken advantage of the scheme to do so at the earliest opportunity. To that extent, BURS is amenable to taxpayers making payment plans. I must however remind those that enter into payment plans that they can only enjoy the scheme if they have fully paid their principal liabilities before the end of the scheme,” said Makgolo.

Further enquiries may be made through our call centre using our toll free number of 17649 but information on the scheme is also available through our website at www.burs.org.bw.

The filing season for the tax year that ended, 2020/2021 tax year, has been linked to the tax amnesty scheme and will therefore also end on the 31^st December 2021.

It is also important to highlight that individuals whose only source of income is from employment and their income does not exceed P480 000 per annum are not required to file returns.