Zimra partners Microsoft, SAP for new e-service platform

via Zimra partners Microsoft, SAP for new e-service platform – NewsDay Zimbabwe June 29, 2015 by Tatira Zwinoira

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) in partnership with Microsoft and SAP has launched an e-service platform to provide fiscal services whose delivery is mediated by information technology.

Speaking at the launch on Friday, Zimra commissioner-general Gershem Pasi said the authority was looking positively to respond to business and technological changes so as to improve convenience and to reduce tax compliance costs.

“This project is also a confirmation that public-private partnerships can be a catalyst to the development of this country. I say so because this project saw the partnership between Zimra and Microsoft and SAP to come up with the e-services platform,” Pasi said.

The e-service will allow interaction with clients and also allow them to carry out business which they normally conduct at the Zimra offices remotely on the e-platform.

Some of the uses of the e-services platform include application for new registrations, amending existing client registration details, applying for new services, submission of tax returns, sending queries and requests, checking on account status and getting updates on new changes in procedure and legislation, among other uses.

“More importantly, as your revenue administrator, we are always exploring ways of making tax and duty payments easier, convenient and less burdensome,” Pasi said, hoping that the platform would go a long way in improving convenience to its clients.

Zimra has been facing challenges with the upgrading of its Asycuda World in recent weeks.

Asycuda World is an online platform where customs and trade transactions are handled via the Internet.

The e-service platform is directing clients to do more online business moving away from the paper tradition which Pasi said was not “only tiring and sometimes inefficient and costly, but also a source of pollution to our environment”.