A Study of the Effect of Covid-19 on Tax Administration in Zambia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10790355Keywords:
covid-19, tax administration, tax complianceAbstract
The objective of this study was to assess the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on tax administration in Zambia. The study focused on the operations of Zambia Revenue Authority during the pandemic. The data collected consisted of tax statistics obtained from ZRA research and policy department. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data collected. The results showed that the Covid-19 pandemic had a devasting impact on revenue collections and tax compliance to some extent. The number of taxpayer registrations and returns filed reduced during the pandemic year. One positive impact that the pandemic had on tax administration is the increase of e-services adoption during the pandemic, the revenue authority recorded highest online user sign-ups during the pandemic in comparison to years prior and after the pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic did gauge the authority’s level of resilience in response to national health crisis. Based on the findings and the conclusions drawn from this study, the research recommends that ZRA formulates strategies that will better handle such a crisis in the future. Strategies that the organization could formulate are ways of taxing the digital economy, the Covid-19 pandemic brought about new modes of doing business mostly through online platforms. Zambia Revenue Authority should therefore foster ways of collecting revenues generated through the digital economy.Downloads
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