The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has conducted awareness engagements with the Business Community in Sinda District of Eastern Province to provide stakeholders with details on the recently launched Extended Voluntary Disclosure Scheme (EVDS), offering a proportionate waiver of…

The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has conducted awareness engagements with the Business Community in Sinda District of Eastern Province to provide stakeholders with details on the recently launched Extended Voluntary Disclosure Scheme (EVDS), offering a proportionate waiver of up to a 100 percent on accrued penalties and interest.

ZRA Chipata Office Tax Inspector Christian Bwalya says the engagement was also intended to provide technical support to the business community with regards to tax.

Mr Bwalya has noted that the EVDS is an amnesty programme that is aimed at providing relief to the taxpayers through a proportionate waiver of interest and penalties tied directly to the settlement of qualifying principal tax liabilities. If one settles 100% of accrued penalties and interest.

He has said that the EVDS is an initiative that the business community in Sinda District could take advantage of as it runs from 17th September to 2026 to 31st December 2026.

Mr Bwalya has explained that the program covers Domestic Taxes as well as Customs and Excise duty whose main requirements include Full Principal Payment where a taxi payer must disclose all undeclared income information, file outstanding returns and settle the principle tax liabilities in full or secure a Time to Pay Agreements (TPA) where a Taxpayer applies for TPA and strictly honour its terms.

He has further clarified that the scheme does not apply to fines under estimated penalties incurred prior to the 2025 charge year, refund yielding disclosures, cases currently under investigation for fraud or willful default or matters already in legal proceedings

And Mr Bwalya has described the two-day engagement in the district as fruitful where most businesses are reportedly tax compliant and assistance provided to those still facing challenges, Mr Bwalya is hopeful that the Sinda Business community will have ZRA services brought closer to their door steps.

Meanwhile, Sinda Business Proprietors have commended ZRA for bringing the services in the district access to various tax information.

Mr William Kansimbi of Willy Kansimbi General Dealers in the Central Business District (CBD) has described the engagement with ZRA as informative and cost effective.

“We are happy that they came here, we would have spent more money going to Chipata to get help and learn some of the information they have shared with us today. We just hope that they can make these visits here more often since we do not have an office we can easily run to in case of any challenges,” he said.

And another business man, Kazi Afzal has appealed to ZRA to consider setting up an office closer to the people of Sinda, noting that, the business community who may be found wanting would be tax compliant provided they had the technical support and all the relevant information.

Mr Afzal said the EVDS information is something the business community could greatly benefit from and do the right things to remain tax compliant, however, access is limited.

“Sometimes we make mistakes that are taken as misrepresentation of figures because we do not understand how to file taxes properly and seeking outside help is risky, which costs thousands in penalties, but if we have more information on such programs as the EVDS, it would save us a lot of money,” Stressed Mr Afzal.

The Extended Voluntary Disclosure Scheme was launched by the Ministry of Finance in September 2026 to provide a legal backing, offering a 100% waiver on accrued penalties and interest for eligible taxpayers who settle their outstanding principal tax liabilities, up to December 31st, 2026.