According to the latest Ministry of Finance (MoF) information, the contribution of Ethiopia’s tax revenue to its GDP was 9.8% in the 2018/2019 fiscal year, which was the lowest, compared to other countries. To increase the country’s tax revenue, the Ministry has started to implement a digitalised e-tax filing system.
The filing system has reduced the inconvenience of the long queuing and time-consuming process of filing and paying tax. This has also avoided further penalty and interest payments resulting from delays in tax filing.
The only remaining issue of the online tax filing system is the collection of the receipt for tax paid, which requires presence at the tax office. The Ministry of Revenues has clarified that it is working towards including the receipt collection in the digital system.
In addition, the Ethiopian Customs Authority started providing an online service in September 2020, avoiding the need for customers to physically appear at customs stations. To this end, the Authority has provided video training to all its employees across the country. Customers can now upload the necessary documents online and obtain the required documents for clearing goods, ensuring a considerable saving for both the Authority and the customers in terms of time, cost and service satisfaction.
Samrawit Yemaneh
samrawit.yemaneh@bdo-ea.com
Agegnehu Tesfa
agegnehu.tesfa@bdo-ea.com