Cavendish University Zambia
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CAVENDISH UNIVERSITY ZAMBIA TAXATION COMPLIANCE AMONG SMALL SCALE ENTERPRENEURS ALONG THE CENTRAL BUSINESS AREA OF LUSAKA TOWN By RUTH ILUNGA MWILA STUDENT NO: 000594 A dissertation submitted to Cavendish University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Bachelor in Accountancy. CAVENDISH UNIVERSITY 2018 COPYRIGHT All rights reserved. No part of this dissertation may be reproduced or stored in any form or by any means without prior permission from the author or the Cavendish University. © Copyright Ruth Mwila (2018) ii DECLARATION I, Ruth Mwila solemnly declare that the dissertation is my own work and that it has not been previously submitted for a degree at Cavendish University. Signed…………………………………………………………. Date……………………….. Signed…………………………………………………………. Date………………………. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this project to God Almighty my creator, my strong pillar, my source of inspiration, wisdom, knowledge and understanding. He has been the source of my strength throughout this program and on His wings only have I soared. I also dedicate this work to my late Father and Mother who had encouraged me and whose encouragement made sure that I give it my all, to finish that which I have started. And I also dedicate this to my Sisters and Brother, who purposely inspired me to finish this project in every way possible. Thank you. For you all can never be quantified. God bless you iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to the many people who inspired, influenced and encouraged me into their thought to write and complete this dissertation work which took a little longer than expected. These are too numerous to list in full. However, some deserve special mention, especially the Lord our creator. I also give credit to members of staff in the department of Accountancy at Cavendish University, School of Information Technology who willingly gave their time, ideas, and unwavering support throughout my undergraduate University academic life. Most sincerely, I thank Mrs J.S. Mwewa for necessitating amendments and improvements of certain parts in the study. I thank the current Dean of my school Mr. Beda Mwale both of whom were my excellent teachers. I am grateful to Mr. S. Kiru for supporting the study especially, on the section dealing with the review of literature. I also feel obliged to thank Mr John Phiri who in many ways inspired and encouraged me in my studies throughout the time at this University. May I also thank the many key stakeholders outside Cavendish University who willingly provided their time, ideas and material support. These included some Zambia Revenue Authority head-office staff such as: Mr. Alfred Mwila of Research and Planning Directorate and Ms. Mirriam Chibwe Sabi of the Advice Centre. Others were Mr. Paul Chipasu who is based at Lusaka City Council under the Urban Markets Control Department. Further, I am grateful for the co-operation I received from the Market Management Committee (MMC) officials in the selected markets or other operative areas of Katondo Street off Freedom way, Town Center off ChaChaCha road, Katunjila Street off ChaChaCha road, Lumumba Market along Lumumba road, Soweto/city market along Lumumba road, kafue roundabout to great north roundabout along Cairo road, ChaChaCha road, Freedom way road. Finally, I want to thank my former course mates Ms. P. Lungu, Mr. B. Mutantabowa, Mr. J. Phiri, Ms C. Kamina, Mr. P. Mubanga and Mr. C. Daka who gave me the necessary academic support. v LIST OF TABLES Table4.1: Knowledge About Zambia’s Taxation Issues ............................................................... 23 Table4.2: Presentation Knowledge of the difference between the two main types of tax ............ 24 Table4.3: Whether or not respondents knew the named tax paid to the council and Zambia Revenue Authority, respectively ................................................................................................... 25 Table4.4: Knowledge of the recommended minimum amount for income tax exclusion… ................................................................................................................................... 26 Table4.5: Knowledge of registration procedures for new taxpayers… ........................................ 27 Table4.6: Knowledge of the recommended periods of compiling and submitting business records to the tax office ............................................................................................................................. 28 Table 4.7: The type of tax most adhered to by respondents… ..................................................... 29 Table 4.8: Willingness to access tax education lessons… ........................................................... 30 Table 4.9: Opinion about Zambia’s tax laws… ........................................................................... 31 Table 4.10: Issuance of tax invoices to customers… ................................................................... 32 Table 4.11: View of penalties for non-tax compliance ................................................................ 33 Table 4.12: View of open air learning centers in the entrepreneurs markets ............................... 34 Table 4.13: Preferred language for use on tax education lessons… ............................................ 35 Table 4.14: Preferred facilitators of tax education lessons… ...................................................... 36 Table 4.15: Preferred method of learning ..................................................................................... 38 vi LIST OF ACRONYMS NGO Non-Governmental Organisation PACRA Patents and Companies Registration Agency PETS Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (in Uganda) TPIN Tax Payers Index Number UNESCO United Nations Educational and Cultural Organisation UNDP United Nations Development Programmes VAT Value Added Tax ZRA Zambia Revenue Authority vii ABSTRACT This research study is aimed at identifying taxation compliance levels that can be used to enhance the self-employed entrepreneurs’ understanding of Zambia’s taxation issues in the central business area of Lusaka. The study methodology used was a research design. A sample of 138 was drawn from the population of 168. The data analysis technique used was Excel word sheet. The study reveals that entrepreneurs lacked knowledge about Zambia’s taxation issues that are applicable to them. The following recommendations aimed at strengthening the entrepreneurs’ knowledge: Zambia Revenue Authority should include record keeping techniques such as booking- keeping in tax education programmes for entrepreneurs. This will enable SME’s to successfully compile and submit records their business incomes in order that the tax office can assess what has to be paid each year. The delivery methods used by the Zambia Revenue Authority should include face-to- face interaction with learners as it enables them to ask questions for clarity; instead of the current method of distributing pamphlets only. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page COPYRIGHT ..................................................................................................................................II DECLARATION .......................................................................................................................... III DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................VI LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................VII LIST OF ACRONYMS .............................................................................................................. VIII ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... IX TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................X CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction… ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Background ............................................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Statement of the problem… ................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Research Objective ................................................................................................................ 4 1.4.1 General objective ................................................................................................................. 4 1.4.2 Specific objective ................................................................................................................. 4 1.5 Research questions ................................................................................................................. 4 1.6 Significance of the study ....................................................................................................... 5 1.7 Scope of the study ...................................................................................................................5 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview… ..........................................................................................................................