Burundi revenue increases
BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI Burundi Revenue Authority (OBR) recorded an increase of 12% of revenues in 2012, gathering BIF 55 bn ($36.5 m) more than was collected in 2011.
Thus, OBR has collected a total of BIF 527 billion (USD 349.9 million) in the year 2012.
Concerning other key achievements, the OBR Commissioner General Mr. Kieran Holmes revealed that 7,000 new taxpayers have been registered in 2012 and the legal framework is being revised. For example the VAT law, the Income tax law which have already been enacted.
The income tax law which has been passed by the parliament gives many advantages to business like the reduction in the tax rate from 35% to 30% and the abolition of the minimum tax of 1% when a business has not made profits.
“To facilitate a cross border trade, OBR, with the support of Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA), has completed the operationalization of a One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) at Gasenyi/Nemba and 2 more (Ruhwa and Kobero/Kabanga) are to be operational this year,” said Kieran. Adding that the domestic taxes departments have also been computerized with regard to VAT and taxpayer registration.
Holmes noted that important IT innovations are being implemented namely the ASYWORLD application which will allow Customs to provide faster and better services to taxpayers and any OBR partner with reliable internet access to work remotely with less configuration effort.
The second one is the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software will computerize the back office activities and Revenue Authorities Digital Data Exchange (RADDEX) which will help to share data and information with other OBR sister revenue authorities.
The Commissioner General noted that all these positive and encouraging results would not have been possible without the strong support of the highest authorities, especially the President of Burundi and the Vice Presidents, the Board of Directors, TMEA, the private sector, partners, the media, and OBR staff.
In terms of Doing Business, OBR has, among other things, eased the provision of tax clearance certificates that can be done in one day at Bujumbura and three days in the countryside localities and has introduced an electronic declaration facility at Customs.
Customs offices are now open up to 8 p.m and it is in plan for a 24-hours service to commence. In a bid to facilitate the taxpayers, OBR uses commercial banks at OBR offices to receive tax payments and help the taxpayer save time as well as reducing costs of payment compliance and the service is to be extended to all banks.
OBR’s Commissioner General, Mr. Kieran Holmes, said OBR has a target to collect in the first 6 months of 2013 an amount of revenue equal to the entire year’s collection of 2009.
According to TMEA, Burundi has Topped East African Revenue Performance. A publication by TEMA reveals that if the revenue collection targets are to be used as a gauge to measure the results, the reforms employed by Rwanda and Burundi have begun to pay off.
Having been ranked by the WB’s Doing Business Report 2012 as the fifth among economies that improved most, Burundi’s overall gross revenue mobilization for the month of January, 2013 was at an impressive 103%. It was the highest in the region only followed closely by Rwanda at 101.5%.Tanzania performed at 99.6%, Uganda at 96.5% while Kenya performed at 91.0% in gross revenue mobilization.
Thus, OBR has collected a total of BIF 527 billion (USD 349.9 million) in the year 2012.
Concerning other key achievements, the OBR Commissioner General Mr. Kieran Holmes revealed that 7,000 new taxpayers have been registered in 2012 and the legal framework is being revised. For example the VAT law, the Income tax law which have already been enacted.
The income tax law which has been passed by the parliament gives many advantages to business like the reduction in the tax rate from 35% to 30% and the abolition of the minimum tax of 1% when a business has not made profits.
“To facilitate a cross border trade, OBR, with the support of Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA), has completed the operationalization of a One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) at Gasenyi/Nemba and 2 more (Ruhwa and Kobero/Kabanga) are to be operational this year,” said Kieran. Adding that the domestic taxes departments have also been computerized with regard to VAT and taxpayer registration.
Holmes noted that important IT innovations are being implemented namely the ASYWORLD application which will allow Customs to provide faster and better services to taxpayers and any OBR partner with reliable internet access to work remotely with less configuration effort.
The second one is the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software will computerize the back office activities and Revenue Authorities Digital Data Exchange (RADDEX) which will help to share data and information with other OBR sister revenue authorities.
The Commissioner General noted that all these positive and encouraging results would not have been possible without the strong support of the highest authorities, especially the President of Burundi and the Vice Presidents, the Board of Directors, TMEA, the private sector, partners, the media, and OBR staff.
In terms of Doing Business, OBR has, among other things, eased the provision of tax clearance certificates that can be done in one day at Bujumbura and three days in the countryside localities and has introduced an electronic declaration facility at Customs.
Customs offices are now open up to 8 p.m and it is in plan for a 24-hours service to commence. In a bid to facilitate the taxpayers, OBR uses commercial banks at OBR offices to receive tax payments and help the taxpayer save time as well as reducing costs of payment compliance and the service is to be extended to all banks.
OBR’s Commissioner General, Mr. Kieran Holmes, said OBR has a target to collect in the first 6 months of 2013 an amount of revenue equal to the entire year’s collection of 2009.
According to TMEA, Burundi has Topped East African Revenue Performance. A publication by TEMA reveals that if the revenue collection targets are to be used as a gauge to measure the results, the reforms employed by Rwanda and Burundi have begun to pay off.
Having been ranked by the WB’s Doing Business Report 2012 as the fifth among economies that improved most, Burundi’s overall gross revenue mobilization for the month of January, 2013 was at an impressive 103%. It was the highest in the region only followed closely by Rwanda at 101.5%.Tanzania performed at 99.6%, Uganda at 96.5% while Kenya performed at 91.0% in gross revenue mobilization.
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