Burundi’s Revenue Authority should increase and optimise tax collection
21 July 2016
Tax issues are high on the agenda of African governments. In many of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa, a campaign is being waged to achieve efficient collection and administration of domestic tax revenues. Burundi is one of those countries.
Taxation is never popular, but it is a necessity for national development and a functioning democracy. Burundi receives substantial support from international donors, but the global economic situation is very turbulent. Most donor countries are cutting back on domestic and overseas development expenditure. In fact, domestic sources of revenue are the only reliable and unrestricted source of state income for Burundi and must be maximised. How can this be done?
Avatar Technologies can contribute to increasing the revenues received by the Burundian State for national development by optimising the revenues received from VAT, reducing the costs of collection and limiting tax evasion. Avatar could be a real partner of choice in supporting the good work of the Burundian Revenue Office.
There is major scope to enlarge Burundi’s tax base, as the introduction of electronic systems can simplify and boost efficiency in the collection of tax payments.
Avatar Technologies offers the only electronic fiscal solution (EFD) which has been specifically designed to address tax compliance issues successfully in both developed and developing countries. This EFD solution can effectively support the tax system of emerging countries. It is Cloud-based, highly secure and works in real-time to create an environment that promotes tax compliance. In this way, it benefits both taxpayers and governments.
The EFD solution is simple and affordable. It promotes fairness and transparency, thus supporting the World Bank’s three pillars of reform:
- simpler and cheaper
- fair
- transparent
Already-existing devices and Smartphones can be seamlessly integrated into the solution and the EFD devices are robust and have a high level of autonomy. This means they allow for both remote audit and activation and, as such, can be used in businesses which are located in remote areas.
The real-time invoicing which Avatar Technologies makes possible could be a real boon for the Burundian government. It allows for more effective monitoring and makes fraud and evasion more difficult as transaction data transmitted in real-time is harder to manipulate and/or delete (anti-zapping capacities).
The introduction of electronic systems can simplify, and boost the efficiency of, the collection of tax payments in Burundi. Much more than a tax management system, the Avatar solution provides the government of countries that adopt it with an innovative financing mechanism enabling them to secure funds for development while compensating for dwindling foreign aid and avoiding additional dependence on external debt.