via Confusion over VAT on foreign arrivals | The Herald January 13, 2015
There seems to be confusion in the tourism sector over the charging of 15 percent VAT on foreign arrivals as Government and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) continue to issue conflicting statements to players in the industry.
While Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi has made it clear that Government is yet to finalise the issue on the 15 percent VAT, ZIMRA has already written two letters to the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism insisting players in the sector should start charging the tax to foreign tourists.
In an interview ZCT chief executive Paul Matamisa, said the council will not comply with the directive from ZIMRA as there is no Statutory Instrument (SI) to support it.
“I would like to confirm that ZIMRA has written to the council twice to inform us that we should charge 15 percent VAT on all foreign arrivals.
“However, we are not in a position to comply with this directive as it was deliberately left out of the 2015 Budget; furthermore there is no Statutory Instrument to support it. We will wait for government policy to guide us accordingly,” he said.
He said the council is now worried that should the move be approved by government, the VAT payments will be backdated by ZIMRA. He said the council has since advised operators to ignore the directive.
However, Minister Mzembi blamed the players for inviting trouble into their camp as some operators wrote to ZIMRA enquiring if they should implement the charges.
“The default response from ZIMRA would be that you charge the VAT,” he told journalists at a press conference yesterday.
He said VAT is unlikely to be implemented as the Budget is silent on the matter.
“In fact, the Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa was silent on the 2015 in spite of the promise in the previous year’s budget.”
“Introducing the tax will not be an intelligent move at a time we are trying to revive the sector. However, we are still negotiating at ministerial level.” – Online
COMMENTS