Ethiopia Diaspora asked to return for finger printing

Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 June 2010 13:18 Written by Admin1 Tuesday, 15 June 2010 13:15

Source http://africannewslive.com/?p=5839
The Addis Ababa Revenue Agency has set a three month period for members of the Ethiopian Diaspora who possess businesses in Ethiopian to give their fingerprints for its tax collection system.The agency that has been building a database of fingerprints in collaboration with the Federal Revenue and Customs Authority (RCuA) urged business owners who have been living abroad to return and provide their fingerprints between Tuesday, June 8, 2010 until the end of August.

RCuA concluded the installation of a taxpayers identity database last year at a cost of 66 million birr. It includes fingerprints, photographs and profiles.Following completion of the new system, RCuA and the Addis Ababa Revenue Agency collected over 400,000 fingerprints last year from the city’s taxpayers.Taxpayers such as business owners, government and private employees and university students who have had loans from the governmnet provided their fingerprints last year.Though taxpayers who live abroad are part of this program, the distance prompted the agency to arrange a new timetable for the Diaspora. For some business owners, the request is problematic due to political differences with the current government.

Many such businesses have a local manager, but the authority rejected the owners’ fingerprints.“Administering the owner’s property and paying taxes are the only things the local managers are accountable for,” Tedela Mitiku, Communication Officer of The City Revenue Agency, told Capital last year. It is expensive for the authority to open fingerprint collection centres at Ethiopian embassies abroad and link them with the authority’s database, Tedela explained.Taxpayers who already provided their fingerprints are also required to collect their new identity card from June 8, according to the announcement. A photograph of the taxpayer, fingerprint and Tax Identification Number (TIN) are the features of the new card. Prior to this, a business with annual revenue of over 100,000 birr would be given a Tax Identification Number (TIN). The old system allowed businesses to have more than one TIN, enabling them to split the business up and reduce their tax bill.The Addis Ababa Revenue Agency has set a three month period for members of the Ethiopian Diaspora who possess businesses in Ethiopian to give their fingerprints for its tax collection system.

The agency that has been building a database of fingerprints in collaboration with the Federal Revenue and Customs Authority (RCuA) urged business owners who have been living abroad to return and provide their fingerprints between Tuesday, June 8, 2010 until the end of August.