The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) bagged two awards at the prestigious Institute of Directors Zimbabwe (IODZ) Awards, which were held in Harare on 6 July 2023. The ZIMRA Commissioner General, Ms Regina Chinamasa, was crowned Director of the Year 2022 in the State Owned Enterprise and Parastatals Category and Women Director of the Year Award in the Women Director of the Year category respectively.
The Authority was recognised for its crucial role in promoting economic growth through revenue mobilisation and trade facilitation true to its mandate. ZIMRA managed to surpass its 2022 Annual Target by 24.14% with the nominal and real revenue growing 324.59% and 49.46% respectively. Through Ms Chinamasa’ s leadership and guidance, ZIMRA has continued to consistently surpass revenue targets as set by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
ZIMRA strives for excellent service delivery to its business partners and taxpayers in line with its motto “We are here to serve”. The Authority has harnessed technology to increase convenience to clients and reduce compliance costs for the taxpayers. Systems upgrade such as Asycuda, TARMS, e-Taxes, Single Window, Self-service kiosks have aided in efficient and effective service delivery. In addition to digitalization, other projects like the High Speed Scanners; Drones; Surveillance and Monitoring Centre; and FADMS are at advanced stages.
The Authority has successfully implemented the ZIMRA Contact Centre, which has transformed the tax and customs administration to a wholesome customer-centric experience. The Contact Centre has been well received by ZIMRA’s stakeholders and clients, due to swiftness in turnaround time thanks to a dedicated team of agents. The Client Satisfaction Index results have also shown an improvement in terms of service delivery, where ZIMRA achieved 67% against an annual target of 72% for the year reflective of improved customer service.
ZIMRA is a hub of regional and international tax information exchange by virtue of being a member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. This is a multilateral body, which works in the area of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. The Forum is mandated to ensure a rapid and effective global implementation of the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. Its work focuses on the exchange of information on request and automatic exchange of financial account information.
Ms Regina Chinamasa successfully implemented the Women in Taxation Forum, with the official launch event being held on 18 March 2022 in Mutare. This platform helps women in the taxation field to participate meaningfully in tax formulation as well as the administration processes. The mandate of the forum is to sufficiently empower and capacitate women and this is achieved through sharing ideas, creating networks and linkages while addressing matters that affect women in the taxation field.
Ms Regina Chinamasa is a staunch advocate of gender sensitive taxation policies evidenced by ZIMRA being part of The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Gender Seal, a volunteer certification programme which aims to recognise organisations that have made significant progress in promoting gender equality. The Seal aims to establish standards and performance benchmarks, provide a roadmap, concrete strategies and actions to put into practice institutional commitments; connect organisational structure with results and impact of public policies; and champion good performance and practices, and enhances institutional accountability on gender equality.
The Institute of Directors (IODZ) awards celebrates directors for their exceptional leadership and success. The awards are meant to recognise individuals contribution, strategy and corporate social responsibility.