Revenue Authority of the Addis Ababa City Government reported a collection of over 18bn birr in the first six months of the Ethiopian fiscal year started on July 8, 2018.

The amount corresponds to around $663 million. This marks a 95 percent achievement of the target for the period.

The majority of the total collection came from direct tax collection, which stood at $479 million. Out of the rest, $180.5 is collected from indirect taxes, as the remaining came from municipality service fees.

Shisema Gebresillasse, Director General of the Addis Ababa City Government Revenue Authority, said many tax payers have been able to pay their taxes on time, avoiding the usual last minute rushes. Shisema also noted that self-declared tax audit documents, which the taxpayers themselves bring to the authority, have shown improvements.

According to stats from the Addis Ababa City Government Revenue Authority, there are 336,173 registered businesses that are paying tax. Out of this, 69,319 are classified as category “A”, large tax payers. Of the rest, 46,891 fall under category “B”, medium tax payers; while the remaining 219,873 are category “C”, small tax payers. The three categories, A, B and C, have an annual turnover of over 500 thousand birr, 100 to 500 thousand birr, and less than 100 thousand birr, respectively.

It has been noted that, during the equivalent six months, Ethiopia has made an overall collection of $3.5 billion in taxes.

Sources: New Ethiopian Business, ENA