BURS targets P120 BILLION

Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) Commissioner General Jeanette Makgolo says they are targeting to mobilise P120 billion revenue by 31st March 2029. Makgolo told a media briefing in Gaborone on Thursday that they are banking on their transformative strategy themed the “Delta – exploring the untapped revenue streams” to advance on their target. 

She said BURS would reach the P120 billion target by exploring the untapped revenue streams. 

Makgolo said on the basis of this strategy, they developed a multifaceted Revenue Mobilisation Strategy aimed at bridging the collection gap created by poor performance of the traditional revenue streams. 

“The devised strategy embedded interventions that are rooted in real world, actionable steps that directly impact day to day operations and accelerate revenue collection, minimise revenue leakages and close tax gaps. 

In addition, she said the revenue mobilisation strategy was premised on the establishment of revenue performance monitoring structures. 

“And these included: the Revenue management committee, Revenue mobilization committee and Revenue Collection War room to oversee and make timely decisions to facilitate revenue for daily strategizing on measures to ratchet the revenue collection,” she said. 

2024 COLLECTION 

Meanwhile, Makgolo said preliminary accounts indicate that the net tax revenue collected as at 31st March amounts to P61.097 billion, surpassing the target of P58.704 billion by P2.93 billion by P2.393 billion (4.08%). Makgolo said the positive outturn was primarily driven by positive collections in Value Added Tax (VAT) and Southern African Customs Union SACU receipts, which offset a shortfall in Income Tax Collections. She said Income Tax underperformed during the period, with actual collection reaching P18.968 billion against the target of P20.714 billion.

This, she said, resulted in a shortfall of P1.745 billion and a performance rate of 91.58%, underscoring the continued need to strengthen compliance and enforcement efforts in this tax type. “The underperformance in this category can be attributed to challenges in the mining sector, including low global demand for diamonds, unfavourable diamond prices and stockpiling by the diamond dealers,” explained Makgolo. Also, she said the poor performance of the Non-Mineral Income Tax can be attributed to subdued domestic economic activity, contraction in taxable profits, and emerging challenges in tax compliance. Conversely, Makgolo said Value Added Tax (VAT) exceeded its target by recording P14.455 billion against target of P11.280 billion.

She said this collection surpassed the target by P3.175 billion or 28.15% adding that this outstanding performance suggests resilience in domestic consumption.“Similarly, SACU receipts surpassed its target by P855 million, with actual collections amounting to P27.566 billion against a target of P26.711 billion, representing 103.20% performance. This good performance is due to favourable exchange rate,” she said. For his part, BURS Board Chairperson Dr Lesedi Senatla said solid 2024 collection target reflect the resilience of BURS collection mechanisms, adding that the past financial year was characterised by tough economic conditions. Dr Senatla said BURS will continue to strengthen revenue collection by tapping into other new tax revenue streams such as the digital space amongst others and thrive to surpass the 2025/26 financial year target.