I recently visited the Zambia Revenue Authority website to try and find out how much it will cost me to land a vehicle in Zambia. I was also interested in knowing something about Property Transfer Tax.
To my surprise, the statements that ZRA have put on their website are too tentative for business. The policy does not come across as reliable as one would expect of it to be. For example, why should the quoted figures for specific data that a prospective customer enters to import goods in Zambia be for guidance only?
That kind of principle is no principle. One needs to work with concrete figures when it comes to paying for services received. This “guidance only” statement often can lead to distress on the part of a customer, who has probably prepared only so much to clear the goods, and only to be charged more than one prepared to pay.
Consequently, because one does not want to forfeit their property,they are forced to plead with a government officer at ZRA to reduce the tax, or one will be forced to enter into negotiation with an officer so that one can pay only what they can afford. This should not be allowed. One must not go to an office not knowing how much they have to pay. Nor should anyone be made to negotiate because they have been quoted too much tax.
This policy at ZRA leaves too much room for a member of the public to get entangled with an officer in a corrupt way.
I would like to appeal to the Zambian government and ZRA in particular to issue statements that have certainty. Put things in black and white, and make the policies reliable and user friendly.
In countries where government departments are fighting corruption,they give you exact details, so that you know exactly what you should pay or expect to get from them. Then they say, if there is anything else we can do for you let us know.
I urge ZRA to address this concern. It is the only source of information upon which some people, particularly those abroad will ever base their spending decisions in exporting good or property to Zambia. If the information is for guidance only, what are the correct details people should use to make their decisions?
Concerned Zambian Citizen.
Be speficic as to what information you need; they will give you. the statement you have made is too generic to warrant an attack on the institution. For example, if you need to bring with you household goods, be specific. Is it a car? all these have their own information on tax. Also download the budget where you will see the percentages for things that government has changed. The chaps are very helpful; in fact demand to speak to managers at what ever port of entry you will go; and you will be surprised. They have all the information.
You are cocked up, allow opinion don’t always try to out smart others. Be humble
Iwe ka corrupt officer everything he has said are true so dont try 2 be smart for nothing u think we dont that ur the beneficially of ZRA corruption, for a corolla others are payin K8million others K15million same make, same year, same, HAAA Iwe!!!!
very good comments
letani che ndalama ba fikala
The problem i have seen with us Zambians is that there are many people not interested in paying tax. My genralisation could be wrong; and its based on anecdotes; but believe you me, if asked, many would rather pay less and less tax; yet we want our government to do everything for us. If you go with an open mind about tax and the codes used for various things, you will get very good information from the officers. I was a returning resident one time, charged about 6m zmk by the agent; when the ZRA officer noticed, he quashed the charge, referred the agent to my passport stamps!! I couldnt believe; and this fella (ZRA) did not even want to see me again. Never even gave him anything, I dont know him at all!! Careful before u say they are all corrupt; I totally disagree.
Check the wasteful of the Govt mate!
just go ahead and corrupt those corrupt officers cos people have complained on this issue for sometime now and no one seem interested in arresting the situation why pay more to govt when you can pay less to an officer. its like zra are content with loosing revenue to their corrupt officers.
This article very true. Go to ZRA online and try to get a quote for importing a car for example, the system will give you mad, and i mean mad figures. It is pathetic and not worth to be even displayed online. Go to the border and the figures you get are not anywhere near the quotes you get online
This is very common in institutions setup to collect revenues on behalf of the government. Institutional corruption in ZRA is part of the establishment and could be perceived as an incentive for it’s employees. We need transparency and not ambiguity. The government should realise that they are loosing the much needed revenue through these loopholes by allowing customs officers to determine how much tax one should pay. The worst part is that you are forced to use some dodgy clearing agents who will rip you off ten times over even before you contemplate on the final cost. Would be interesting to see if the government can do a spot check audit trail to establish if all cars imported in Zambia in the last two years fall under ZRA guidelines for import duty.
#1 before you attack the man maybe you should have waited to hear from some of us who have also fallen in this situation. I live in the USA, in 2010 before I decided to go home to Zambia, I called ZRA several times to speak to officials about me bringing my Vehicle, I specifically asked them questions regarding the payments, ZRA could could not give me any infor or percentages, all they told me was bring your Jeep and once we see it we will determine the price based on how much we think that vehicle cost, they told me it does not matter if i bought it for $1 them have their own figures. I guess what am saying or what the gentleman is saying they need to do a good job
I totally agree with you; and i didnt mean to attack him; i can only apologise. But, to clarify; determing the market value for cars or vehicles cannot be done online. I trust you will agree with me. But did you not know the import duty for cars is about 25%? and (then market price plus import duty) by VAT? This information is available, and thats what people should be getting from these officers. You get situations were people undervalue cars; thats why no reasonable person can tell you the true market value online. But, they will give you the percentage breakdown though.
You dont expect them to give you the Specific values before they see your vehicle(Physical inspection).Their issues they consider.1)Mileage 2)State of the engine also the engine apacity 3)State of the body 4)year of manufacture 5)Exchange rate which changes every after 15/16days and so many things.Depending on the result of the Physical inspection your may even be given a lesser VDP than you declared.I have seen these things happening.So pls they will miss lead you if they give you values before considering the things above.
I need a second opinion; the article is not clear. I have had more problems with RTSA and the so-called 3rd party insurance than ZRA to be honest (Insurance are declaring profits in part because they are charging a minimum 3 month cover even if you are only staying a week or two). It was bad enough at 1 month…
Does ZRA prescribe the tax figures or its the Govt then ZRA enforces them? If you are complaining about too much tax,complain to your Govt not the agent,its the norm worldwide
W don’t want ZRA to interfere. We want to continue with corruption, it’s cheaper. Why should I pay customs on a car that is twice the price at which I bought a car??? What kind of stupidity is that? I will never pay ZRA anything because they are thieves. Corruption at the borders continues…!
#7 well put its just a good starting point of corruption, unplanned friendships with ZRA officials…..how do you expect to move blindly in the hope that fyalaisova this is not good enough ZRA should set some precedents to allow people to plan least they give you a thumb figure and end up bribing the official…..we are tired of this a system has to be in place for also check and balances purposes. let them copy and paste from South Africa on how its done. How does one even win a case of valuation in the courts if figures are based on “I see and charge” bases…….this is absolutely rubbish to say the least
Most of these doggy agents are owned by ZRA senior managers. The author certainly had some intuition that, the way the statement was put leaves a loophole for corrupt activities to be executed but did not know exactly how to put it.There is massive corruption at ZRA and the biggest problem we have in this country is that, not even other law enforcement agents like the police, DEC and ACC have the expertise to detect corruption or corrupt activities at ZRA. The issues are high technical and can only be understood by someone who has worked there. Managers protect one another and this what they mean by team work. And let me correct one impression here. The corruption that you see in customs is far much less compared to that in domestic taxes which done on a much larger scale.
Bang on the money, ZRA website is too vague nothing there seems to make much sense. You even wonder what their full time IT department is there for, the small repair and maintenance they carry out in all fairness can be outsourced cheaply, but then again it’s Zambia we’re talking about where people are paid millions for doing very little or nothing.
Somethings we discuss, Zambia is much better than Latin America, my best experience is Ecuador where my wife comes from. Using their corruption systems, I convinced her than living in Zambia would be better off.
Whoever wrote that is kind of show-off ass.
It is folly of one to use the case of Latin America to justify corruption in Zambia. Corruption is corruption; the scale doesn’t matter.
This is one institution where, people will hate you for being honest and you will suffer a lot humiliation for as longer as you remain there till you decide to leave. And what makes the institution strange is that people will talk about corruption just to masquerade their deed. Just after change of government, there was panic in the institution but now the situation has returned to “normal” as it is clear that even this government will do nothing more to upset the syndicates. The government should set up a truth commission where former honesty employees should make submissions and help the government to stamp out corruption in the institution. Other wise more money is ending up in corrupt officers pockets.
True, I once tried to import a vehicle, using their guidance and was shocked at the difference when the vehicle actually arrived in Zambia. ZRA must specify how for each vehicle model giving the break down of the taxes involved so that people intending to buy cars can know and plan in advance how much is required. This will definitely reduce on corruption since one can just arrive, pay what they already know without wanting to see this or that officer for help. This will also assure the Govt of proper accountability since auditing of income is by simple model additions and multiplication of the totals by the already know tax values. Govt please take advantage of this advice to improve our tax collection system.
I believe ZRA lives in its own world. they see the prices of second hand vehicles on internet sites but will refuse any information such as electronic transfers as proof of how much one paid for their car. This leaves the customs officers to determine how much the car must have costed you. For me what I have seen is that mostly you pay almost 96 percent when the add duty, VAT and exercise duty. there is need for govt to address the high duty on vehicles. We do not have a motor vehicle industry to protect & yet we keep on copying duty rates from countries like S/Africa that an industry to protect. Vehicles have created jobs through taxis, spare parts, repairs, cars washes etc. We should give car owners a break & ensure that we also tax these firms that are have created
The article is spot on .The problem with ZRA is that the system leaves too much decision making to the officer. Zambia is possibly the only country where the value of vehicles is dermined by ZRA officers without reference to anything. And this is where corruption begins. It is a very hopeless institution.
Not to degress from the topic..what I find really ironic is that while in other countries older cars attract a higher tax rate so as to be punitive because the older cars use old technology with inefficient engines that contribute to pollution, the opposite is the case in Zambia. New more recent cars instead attract a higher tax rate. I understand that the reason for this is to protect the NEW car more franchise in Zambia such as Toyota. I don’t know which argument is more sound…to protect the environment or to protect private motor companies like Toyota which are only creating marginal employment because they are not manufacturing their vehicles in Zambia, not in assembling but importing them complete!!
The tax rates of vehicles be it new or used are the same, only the values differs for obviouse reasons.
Only the Carbon tax should be higher for older vehicles and it is for new vehicles but the are taxes are based on value of the vehicles which higher for new vehicles that it is for used vehicles.
I have no problem with ZRA. For all you guys who are complaining, just talk to the ZRA officer and given him kitu kidogo – your car will pass.When it comes to importing cars, corruption is cheaper. It is amazing how much money ZRA is losing to corruption because of their stupid import duty policy. For me, I don’t want them to do anything. Right now things are fine, you don’t have to pay them anything.
Most corrupt people after the police, merciless, and cruel sad bastards.Looting hard working people of their precious little they save for their families. U must see what they do with this money, mistresses!!
If you are caught driving while on the phone you can pay the police officer from k 20,000 to k 270,000 depending on your skills to negotiate and how much you have in the pocket there and then. Wish you know how deadly this is to our country!
“You are cocked up, allow opinion don’t always try to out smart others. Be humble”; you said! So did i stop you from stating your opinion?
I with the writer though he/she did not give any specifics. In any event, ZRA needs to be highly regulated by GRZ on all levels. I have had several run-ins with ZRA and I promise you, if you import a vehicle, you better do your homework first before you even go to the border post. These chaps can really make your life a living hell. They know, you will not forfeit your vehicle so, they throw unrealistic figures at you and then watch have a nervous break-down and spiral out of control while they sit there, drink tea and talk on their cheap cell phones. Corruption is very much alive when it comes to ZRA. They run this business with impunity…I know this for a fact. They over value and under value certain cars, depending on who you are and what you’re willing to pay. ZRA = HELL.
@22 Hatembo, my friend you DO NOT know corruption until you have dealt with ZRA. ZRA makes the police look like amatures. Go to Chirundu border post fro one day and just sit there and watch. You don’t even have to ask anybody, people already know that without a bribe here and there, you’re vehicle or even goods will be stuck at the border for weeks or months. And then, just when you think it’s bad, they hit you with storage fees PER DAY. Ask people who’ve dealt with ZRA when imnporting anything, the stories are horrible, you’ll cry! Talk about day light robbery, got to ZRA. Even at there offices on Lumumba rd, you can not get anything done. Unless you know somebody that knows somebody that wants a kickback, you are out of luck. It’s a real and huge problem.
speak for yourself
I thought he was speaking for himself. But whether people that have relative that benefit from this corruption like or not these things are happening
when you are away from home (Zambia) and you read about all these…same things you left still going on. it just makes you sick to think of going back. no one listens even if they are give glaring facts…. those who condemn, when they come in power, they just carry on. its a pity.
The only things this govt needs to do, is fired the top chap, realign and reapoint. we need pipo that will run this institution with morals!
Imagine yourself scooping a £11,000 Bargain, Range Rover Sport 2005 plates at a Car Auction; then when you ship to Zambia the ZRA official tells you that there is noway the car can be worth that BUT its worth £30,000 minimum and his ZRA computer with an outdated database can confirm it. What do you do? Most people say they have appealed the ZRA decision with successful outcome. I would be more interested to hear from the Car Importers on this issue as we have a lot of them.
This is will never end and the public will continue being ripped off so long as the MPs and High Government Officials continue to be exempted from paying duty for their high spec. cars. Trust me the minute that happens this issue will be tabled in Parliament next day.
It is common knowledge that you could negotiate the value declared on the invoice with some unscrupulous exporters of used cars. Foolishly, those who got away with this scam were bragging openly in the bars. The story got back to ZRA and they tightened the screws; simple! Too late for you concerned Zambian citizen.
Typical Zambian bravado !!!LOOL
If this is as serious as some people are saying, would it help if government clearly classified certain goods for tax purposes, and charge for these accordingly?
For example, cars have models, years of manufacture, engine capacity and current mileage. These could be used as criterion in collecting the much needed taxes, without putting final decisions in the hands of individuals.
Another thing is, if things are as bad as that, how can this be brought to the attention of law makers, etc?
The only plausible reason for this vague information is, as stated, not possible to charge you before the condition of your car is checked! Mileage, year of manufacture, engine capacity, general body state. If there is a way this can computed and a table posted, help your government get correct taxes while you pay fairly. I agree that leaving these aspects at the discretion of ZRA officers is courting the breeding of corruption.