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Kiyapili Sibanda, Business Reporter
THE business community has been urged to pay tax on time and keep their records to avoid being penalised by authorities.

Speaking on the sidelines of a tax seminar in Bulawayo on Friday, PNA Chartered Accountants partner, Mr Philip Ndlovu, said it was important for businesses to pay tax and keep good track records for their businesses to avoid running battles with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra).

“If you think you could avoid paying tax that is a myth. You are going to have a big problem very soon because Zimra are doing their work, which is serving and enforcing the law and the laws are going to be enforced with no favour,” said Mr Ndlovu.

He told Business Chronicle that record keeping was not optional and advised businesses to conduct their operations according to the law.

Mr Ndlovu said businesses must look out for invoices that they get from suppliers and check if they are tax compliant so as to avoid being penalised by Zimra.

“The invoices that you get from suppliers, please check with us that those invoices are tax compliant because if they are not, they are going to be rejected by Zimra.

“This will lead to businesses getting penalties and the rest will be nasty experiences that a business does not need,” he said.

Mr Ndlovu said the objective of the seminar was to conscientise businesses about the importance of tax and keeping records.

“It is part of our corporate social responsibility as PNA to give knowledge to the community for free and that is why we invited all clients to just come,” he said.

Certified tax accountant Miss Monalisa Masuku said businesses should not be scared to pay tax because it is the focal point of revenue collection as people would be contributing towards the fiscus.

“People need to be tax compliant so we are moving there so that they are not scared and get their books in order. Companies must always oblige to paying tax because they are contributing to the revenue, which is a good move towards economic recovery,” she said.

Meanwhile, Miss Masuku said they looked forward to doing more seminars to raise tax awareness so as to educate people to be tax compliant because many businesses have been closed down on issues to do with tax that should be avoided.

Last year, Zimra embarked on a mission of encouraging a tax compliance culture by continuously engaging businesses to formalise their operations and made a deliberate effort to access revenue processes and being prepared to take challenges head on so as to improve convenience and voluntary compliance.

@Kiyaz_Cool