The Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO) has called on the government to create an online platform for tax payments.
TATO said its members would prefer to pay all taxes on a single online platform, allowing operators to save time lost on making numerous tax payments.
There are 37 different taxes that tour operators are subject to. These include business registration; entry fees; regulatory licence fees; income tax; and duties for every tourist vehicle per annum.
TATO is Tanzania’s leading lobby agency, representing over 300 tour operators.
Willbard Chambulo, Chairman of TATO, said compliance with multiple taxes consumed a substantial amount of money and time, and could possibly encourage tax evasion.
He said the issue lay not only with how to pay taxes and make profits, but also the time spent to comply with convoluted taxes. “Tour operators need streamlining of taxes to ease compliance, because the cost of compliance is so high and, as such, it acts as an obstacle for voluntary compliance,” reported IT News Africa.
A report undertaken by the Tanzania Confederation of Tourism and BEST – Dialogue, shows that tour operators spend over four months completing regulatory paperwork and 745 hours a year are spent on licence and tax paperwork.
