Bottlenecks In Tax Collection From Gambling Industry Sorted

KETRA KALUNGA Writes
@SunZambian
All bottlenecks that invaded tax collection from the gambling industry have been sorted resulting in the maximum collection of revenue in terms of tax by the government.
And Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) says there has been compliance from the gambling sector in paying tax translating into maximum revenue collection.
ZRA Corporate Communications Manager, Topsy Sikalinda said the gambling industry has been paying tax and no cases of tax evasion have been recorded so far.
Mr. Sikalinda told the Daily Nation in an interview that the only issue that was raised by the gambling industry was the way the return was filed which has since been resolved.
He said before, the tax return for the industry was being done as a total of whether the gambling business was involved in other businesses such as beer selling and running a restaurant besides gambling.
Mr. Sikalinda said the tax return has now been slit in that the gambling, betting section, drinks, and food sector pay tax separately following con-cerns from the gambling industry.
“Every business pay tax whether it’s a casino or not pays tax, the only issue is that they had raised concern on how the tax return was being done, previously the way the tax return was done, it was done as a total, one tax return whether you sell beer in the casino or other business,” he said.
He said the bottlenecks were dealt with in the recent budget presentation in accordance with the suggestions put across by the gambling sector.
The Gambling Industry which includes a casino, lottery, betting, and gaming are on the increase in the country.
And the government had introduced a new tax regime on the casino, lottery, betting, and gaming to boost revenue collection from the gambling industry by strengthening the regulation and taxation system.