INTERNATIONAL - Zambia's tax agency plans to conduct audits on mining companies running back six years after uncovering 76.5billion kwacha (R94.8bn) of underpayment by a “prominent” miner. The Zambia Revenue Authority may extend the period of the audit if it finds a pattern of “consistent, systematic, premeditated” tax evasion.
“We announce the preliminary assessment of 76.5 billion kwacha issued to a mining company for misclassifying consumables and spare parts at importation for the last five years,” the tax authority said, without identifying the company. “Items were declared as mining machinery, which attract customs duty at 0%, when in fact not.”