The Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA) announced the finalization of a draft amendment for taxation laws.

The final draft is sent to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) for feedback, according to Mekonnen Ayele, legal advisor with ERCA. The draft amendment bill will amended existing tax proclamation and regulation on various taxes, including Excise Tax, VAT, Turnover Tax, Sur Tax and Income Tax.

Efrem Mekonnen, Public Relations head of ERCA, told Capital that the new law has been evaluated by the Authority several times, as well as by relevant government offices and various stakeholders before it was submitted to MoFED.  He also  said  discussions with the private sector will be held in the future. ERCA expects the enactment of the bill during the current Ethiopian Fiscal Year.

Meanwhile, ERCA has enacted a new directive on usage of cash register machines for selected business enterprises. Previously, businesses that weren’t engaged in daily transactions were obliged to issue their total of daily sales known as Z report at the end of every working day. Some type of businesses, such as, consultancy firms, found the procedure burdensome as they usually do not carryout daily transactions.

The new directive allows businesses involved in construction and consultancy services to issue their Z report only twice a month rather than every day.

According to Mekonnen, the new directive permit 22 types of bushinesses, identified by the authority, to benefit from this scheme.

Source: Capital