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| Mr Kiula |
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and the business community have agreed
to adopt Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) effective next month, a move
that is observers say will curb tax evasion and theft of transit goods.
TRA Acting Director of Taxpayers Service and Education Allan Kiula said
in Dar es Salaam on Thursday that the move will enhance efficiency in curbing
dumping through penetration of transit goods into the local market.
Studies show that the country looses over 25bn/- monthly due to fuel
adulteration, dumping and compensations of lost transit cargo.
The malpractice, according to Mr Kiula, subjects the government into
huge loss of government revenues due to offloading of untaxed transit goods
into the local markets.
He said electronic tracking systems could be the most effective and
relatively less costly option and one of the key strategies to be adopted by
both public and private institutions in the efforts to reduce loss as well as
unnecessary expenditures.
The government received funds from Development Partners toward the cost
of Tax Modernization Program, and applied part of the proceeds of the fund to payments
under the contract for the Supply, Configuring and Implementation of ECTS.
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| Trucks at Tunduma boarder post, Tanzania |
Mr Kiula said the electronic sealing wire prevents any attempt at
opening, bypassing, or tampering with the Electronic Seal.
The system detects any such attempt, records the event, and sends an
alert to be received in the central data base system at the TRA.
He said with the technology, it will be possible to track down and even
arrest truck drivers who tamper with cargos, reducing complaints of loss or
fuel adulteration from the cargo owners in the neighboring countries.
According
to TRA, the system is expected to become operational next month, monitoring the
movement of goods under custom control up to the point of exit in the boarders.
The project operates under self-financing arrangement where the taxman
shall acquire the ECTS software and cover communications costs, while
transporters acquire electronic seals and related equipment from approved
hardware supplier by purchase or leasing.
The tax agency has provided three months from March 12, this year, for
transporters of transit goods to acquire the gadgets or forfeit their
businesses.
Source: The Daily News,www.dailynews.co.tz, reported by Sebastian Mrindoko
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