Pay your tax and stay off Social Media
By Brian Mulenga
JUST pay your taxes and keep a low profile. Stephen Mikalile moves around easily and freely. He is a dollar millonaire many times over and sometimes chills without much fuss in open places and even in places like Mikes in Chilenje and yet he is so big time that he is owed $300 million by the government.
You make a little flash money and decide the whole world must know you are coining it. You forget three letter words that haunt unexplained wealth. DEC, FIC and ZRA. You have just raised red flags to them. You dont figure as a taxpayer. At PACRA your companies are dormant and have never paid their dues and filed returns.
Your bank has never notified DEC ( as they have to) over any large deposits or transactions you did and you wonder why the three letter agencies visited you.
There are lots of millionaires in Zambia, last estimate I saw said there are estimated to be 1,200 Zambian dollar millionaires. You dont see most of them on Facebook. And they file their tax returns.
Formalise your business. Have a proper presence at PACRA, ZRA and deposit your money in a bank. It’s far less of a hassle than being audited by the three letter agencies.