COMMISSIONER General of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Yusuph Mwenda has announced that Thursday will henceforth be designated as a special day for the taxman to address the concerns of businesspeople across the country.

Mwenda unveiled this here yesterday when speaking to businesspersons on the importance of paying taxes as a legal requirement for advancing national development.

In that regard, he appealed to the business community to utilize the opportunity effectively by giving their complaints and views on better ways the authority should serve them.

 “We have been directed to work with you and therefore let us be together in solving problems so that businesses can grow and raise taxes,” he said.

 Mwenda who was appointed by President Samia Suluhu Hassan in July this year to head the authority, noted that he will manage it in such a way that paying tax becomes simpler.

 “We are going to put in place a new system as per directives of the government where challenges facing businesspersons will come to us directly,” he said.

 He said that his first task is to strengthen relationships with businesspersons and give them education on tax as they must understand which tax they are required to pay, at what time and penalties for not paying it among other things.

 He pointed out that there are still some businesspersons who evade tax, asking them to stop the malpractices as they ruin the development of the nation.

Those untrustworthy businesspersons should change as the authority is going to strengthen inspection and investigation units and how to get information with a view to taking appropriate measures, he said.

 Also, he urged tax consultants to be ethical when discharging their duties and avoid cheating customers for personal gain.

 “You cannot advise a customer by cheating to get money. If we get evidence about a tax consultant doing that, we will revoke their license so that they cannot conduct such activities again,” he said.