CIBITOKE April 7th (ABP) – An exchange meeting between the Burundi Revenue Authority (OBR) and administrative officials, police, representatives of justice and traders, took place on Tuesday April 5th, at the headquarters of Cibitoke province. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss compliance with the law, tax and customs procedures, the state of play in the fight against fraud and smuggling.
Before the exchanges, various presentations took place on tax citizenship, the invoice proposed by the OBR, the quarterly declaration, the payment deadlines and the customs clearance procedure.
According to the Director of Communication and Taxpayer Services at the OBR, Mr. Stany Ngendakumana, participants are invited to relay the message of the OBR, so that taxpayers pay taxes before the deadline. According to the same official, in the fight against fraud and smuggling, during the year 2022, 307 fraudulent loincloths and a vehicle that was used to move them were handed over to the OBR last January by the police working in Cibitoke province, but nothing else was reported as fraud for the months of February and March. The OBR wonders about this, until it comes to see if the traders of Cibitoke province have really renounced the fraud, or if there has been no slackening on the part of the partners of the OBR in the fight against this scourge, he said.
The various partners who were at this meeting promised to take up the issue, to see what is really happening on the field, so that if such cases still exist, they can be fought, and if it is a good practice that Cibitoke province be recognized as an exemplary province, he stressed.
Many questions were asked by the participants on the tax procedures and the declaration, and the heads of the OBR services gave clarifications and reminded the people of Cibitoke of the use of the toll-free number of the OBR to denounce any act of fraud.