The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has fined Toyota Zambia K2 billion for selling motor vehicles cleared with the customs division under the tax rebate for members of parliament (MPs).
The Times of Zambia said this follows an investigation carried out by ZRA into the company after allegations that some MPs were abusing their privileges by selling off tax-rebated motor vehicles procured for them by the National Assembly.
ZRA spokesman, Daniel M’soka confirmed to the newspaper that Toyota Zambia between 2002 and last year sold 18 motor vehicles to the general public which were cleared under the National Assembly and on which taxes were not paid.
“The motor vehicles were mainly purchased using cash and only four buyers had used company cheques.
“ZRA consequently penalised Toyota Zambia who paid K600 million in fines, K1.2 billion in taxes and K400 million in interest,” M’soka reportedly said.
The paper noted that the Zambian government gives the National Assembly a tax rebate on MPs’ vehicles to enable the parliamentarians to travel to their constituencies for development work.
But some members of the public had complained the some of the MPs were actually selling the vehicles purchased under the tax rebate instead of using them for constituency work.
