A report released by the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA) on Monday, May 12, 2014, has unveiled the authority has failed its target of collecting 88.3 Billion Birr by only collecting 79 Billion Birr during the past nine months of the fiscal year.
However, when compared to the same period of the last fiscal year ERCA’s performance has shown an increase by 27 percent.
Addis Ababa takes the lead in collecting the highest amount of revenue, 10.7 Billion Birr.
On the other hand, out of the total 79 Billion Birr the highest revenue came from indirect taxes. Indirect taxes accounted 72.3 percent or 56.3 Billion Birr of the total revenue. Second highest revenue source were export taxes. The Authority collected 34.5 Billion Birr from export taxes. And this made up 43.5 percent of the revenue. The remaining 21.5 Billon Birr came from direct tax.
With regard to goods smuggled out of Ethiopia, the report revealed the Authority managed to prevent commodities that are worth 23.4 Million Birr from being smuggled out. The commodities that were caught include livestock, khat, coffee, gold, silver, cereals, vegetables and fruits.
Out of the smuggle goods most was siezed at the Bahir Dar checkpoint. The total amount of commodity caught at this checkpoint was worth 14.3 Million Birr.
And in relation to contraband, ERCA’s Hawassa Branch Office has intercepted contraband that is worth 64.87 Million Birr. This takes the largest portion of the total contraband intercepted.
The report also indicated cash register machine use stands at 19,452 while it aimed for 37,440 tax payers to use the machine.
The report has also included the Authority’s employee turnover report. During the past nine months it has hired 2,046 new employees and fired 122 employees, 1,502 employees have also quit on ERCA.
And with regard to suits that the Authority is a party to, the report showed it has sued 2,949 individuals for tax fraud and contraband. In addition to this, the report said the Authority has won 85 percent of criminal trials and 97.25 percent of civil cases.
Source: Fortune
