The Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has said it is optimistic of meeting the K4.33 trillion tax revenue target set in the 2025-26 national budget.
MRA Commissioner General Daniel Daka was speaking on the sidelines of a K60 million donation to the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) towards survivors of Cyclone Jude.
Critics recently described the K4.33 trillion tax revenue targets set by Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda in the 2025-26 national budget as over ambitious and unrealistic.
But Daka said the tax collector would employ a number of strategies to meet the tax revenue target.
“One of the key strategies that we are putting together is to clean the tax register. We would want to have a tax register that is very clean—to know who is paying taxes and who are not paying taxes. At the moment, the tax register is not that clean. Once we have a clean register, we will have a clearer view on what is our tax base.
“Second one, we have systems that we are bringing into place. Maybe you have heard about the electronic tax invoicing system. This is a system that we would want to apply comprehensively to the extent that whether, for example, an importer imports goods. At the moment, they arrive at the border, the data with regard to such import is already captured to the extent that [the] cell of that consignment has to be captured by that system.
“That will improve [our performance], in [terms of] revenue mobilisation. One, the VAT [value added tax] and two, the tax stamp issues. So, we have so many strategies that we are putting in place to ensure that we achieve or even beat the much higher target that we have been given,” Daka said.
He described the 2024- 25 fiscal year as a mixed bag in as far as tax revenue is concerned, saying the economic environment in which MRA operated had not been very well.
Daka said tax revenue grew by just above 40 percent in the 2024-25 fiscal year as compared to the 2023-24 finance year.
The MRA boss said the tax revenue growth was not a mean achievement considering the economic environment.
“We might have not reached or met the target that was prescribed by Parliament but we would say that considering all efforts that we put together, we have managed to grow revenues by above 40 percent, which is not a mean achievement on our part,” Daka said.
Last year, Chithyola Banda set a tax revenue target of K3.26 trillion for MRA.
On the K60 million donation to Dodma, MRA Board Chairperson Vizenge Kumwenda said the donation was part of the tax collection body’s corporate social responsibility.
Kumwenda said much as MRA was responsible for assessment, collection and accounting for government tax revenue, they were a people-oriented organisation.
“We are aware that we exist as a revenue body because of the people who pay taxes. This is why when disasters strike, we feel duty-bound to support those communities hit by humanitarian crises.
“Despite the fact that the CSR Policy has five key pillars, you will realise that these are inter-woven in one way or the other since the policy focusses on people and the environment where we work and live in,” Kumwenda said.
Dodma Director of Preparedness and Response, Moses Chimphepo, hailed MRA for what he described as timely support
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