UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM

SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

PRACTICAL TRAINING REPORT

STUDENT NAME: WARIOBA, DANIEL CHARLES

DEGREE PROGRAM: BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ECONOMICS

AND STATISTICS

REGISTRATION NUMBER: 2020-04-12366

PRACTICAL TRAINING YEAR: 2022

NAME OF ORGANIZATION: TRA KINONDONI – TAX

(SHEKILANGO)
TRAINING OFFICER NAME: MONICA M JOSEPH

ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR’S NAME: MS. SELINA MNOMBO

 DECLARATION

I WARIOBA, DANIEL CHARLES with registration number 2020-04-12366, declare that I have
written this report with the knowledge that I gained during my two months Practical Training at
TRA KINONDONI according to the regulations and in fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Statistics at the University of Dar-es-salaam.

Signature

………………………

WARIOBA, DANIEL

C.

Student.

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 ABSTRACT

This report contains details on the work I performed at TRA KINONDONI- SHEKILANGO
Tanzania. This report entails of the following six Chapters:

 Chapter 01, The Organization Profile which contains the background, roles, mission,
vision, core values, and TRA.
 Chapter 02, The Activities done at TRA KINONDONI- SHEKILANGO and their theoretical
relevance with concrete understandings of realities.
 Chapter 03, Case Study
 Chapter 04, Lessons, and Skills gained and,
 Chapter 05, Challenges and Problems encountered
 Chapter 06, Conclusion and Recommendations.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Foremost, I glorify Almighty God for he bestowed me with the gift of being alive and healthy
the whole 8 weeks of training.

I am grateful to all of those with whom I have had the pleasure to work at TRA KINONDONI-
SHEKILANGO who in one way or the other assisted me into getting familiar with new tasks and
generally being comfortable at the work place. I am especially indebted to Ms.Monica M
Joseph Principal Tax Management Officer, who has been supportive of my training progress and
task completion.

I am also very grateful to all of those with whom I have had the pleasure to work with during this
PT namely Ibrahim Shakiru from UDSM and Doreen Masakia from IFM who provided me
with extensive personal and professional assistance and support and ensured we had the best life
in general at TRA KINONDONI.

I would also like to thank Ms.Selina Mnombo, my PT academic supervisor who after evaluating
us he ensured our wellbeing at TRA encouraged us to be on point.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION.............................................................................................................................ii

ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS......................................................................................................viii

LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................................ix

CHAPTER ONE: ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE.......................................................................1

1.1 BACKGROUND OF TRA....................................................................................................1

1.2 ROLES OF TRA....................................................................................................................2

1.3 TRA’S MISSION, VISION, AND CORE VALUES.......................................................3

1.3.1 TRA’S MISSION............................................................................................................3

1.3.2 TRA’S VISION..............................................................................................................3

1.3.3 TRA’S CORE VALUES.................................................................................................4

1.4 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE....................................................................................5

CHAPTER TWO: ACTIVITES AT TRA KINONDONI & THEIR THEORETICAL

IMPLICATIONS6 2. NATURE OF ACTIVITIES..................................................................6

2.1 GENERATING CONTROL NUMBER................................................................................6

2.2 RECORDING OF TIN NUMBERS......................................................................................6

2.3 ASSISTING TAXPAYERS AT THE RECEPTION............................................................6

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 2.4 BIOMETRICS REGISTRATION.........................................................................................7

2.5 CREATING TIN NUMBERS...............................................................................................7

2.6 ARRANGING OF FILES IN REGISTRY............................................................................7

2.7 FILLING CHECKLIST FORMS..........................................................................................7

2.8 ANALYZING TAXPAYERS WITH DEPTS.......................................................................7

2.9 SURVEILLANCE SURVEYS..............................................................................................8

3.0 EFD RECEIPT VERIFICATION…………………..………….

………………………………………………………………………………………. 8

CHAPTER THREE: CASE STUDY...............................................................................................9

3. TRA’S E-FILING SYSTEM.......................................................................................................9

CHAPTER FOUR: LESSONS & SKILLS ACQUIRED..............................................................10

4. INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................10

4.1 ETHICS AND MORAL OF WORK...................................................................................10

4.2 DEALING WITH CUSTOMER’S COMPLAINS..............................................................10

4.3 CREATING TIN FOR THE CUSTOMERS.......................................................................11

4.4 SELF-CONFIDENCE..........................................................................................................11

CHAPTER FIVE: CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED.................................12

5.1 INADEQUATE OF RESOURCES.....................................................................................12

5.2 NETWORK PROBLEMS...................................................................................................12

5.3 SHORTAGE OF EMPLOYEES..........................................................................................12

5.4 HARSH CUSTOMERS.......................................................................................................12

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CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS....................................................13

6.1 CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................13

6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................................................13

REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

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 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TRA – Tanzania Revenue Authority

RGS – Revenue Gateway System

CP4 - Fourth Corporate Plan

CP5 - Fifth Corporate Plan

EAC - East African Community

ETS - Electronic Tax Stamps

FYRDP II - Second National Five Years Development Plan

ICT - Information and Communication Technology

TADAT - Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool

TIN - Taxpayer Identification Number

VAT- Value Added Tax

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. TRA's organization structure............................................................................................5

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 CHAPTER ONE: ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE
1.1 BACKGROUND OF TRA

The tax system of Tanzania had evolved overtime to reflect socio-economic and political
situation at the time. During colonial era, income, customs, taxes and excise taxes were under
East African High Commission, while District Commissioners oversaw the collection of
personal tax on behalf of Treasury. Local chiefs were given the mandatory to collect taxes for
local government. After the establishment of East African Community (EAC) in 1967 all tax
administration matters were placed under the community. In 1973 each country decided to
administer income tax on its own while customs and excise taxes remained under the control of
EAC. Following the collapse of EAC, the administration of taxes was placed under Ministry of
Finance. The Ministry administered all the revenue matters till 1995 when the parliament of
united Republic of Tanzania passed a new law to establish Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).
The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) is a Government Agency established by the TRA Act
chapter 399 and became operational on 1st July 1996. Over the years of its existence the
Authority has been conducting its business guided by Five-year Corporate Plans. The plans have
aided the Authority to have common strategic direction in the course of discharging its mandate.
This approach of managing corporate affairs has enabled the Authority to achieve remarkable
performance in mobilization of the Government revenue. The Five-year Corporate Plan (CP4)
was implemented for a period of four years in order to be in sync with the UN Sustainable
Development Goals adopted in September 2015; National vision 2025; the Second National Five
Years Development Plan –FYDP II (2016/17-2020/21); and the zeal of the 5 th Phase
Government which was elected into office in November 2015. The FYDP II which was launched
in June 2016 calls for the need to undertake interventions aimed at enhancing domestic resources
mobilization. The emphasis on revenue from these documents had made it necessary to take
them onboard in formulating a new TRA’s strategic plan. 2 Additionally, the IMF’s TADAT
Assessment conducted in February 2016 brought up a number of pertinent issues that needed to
be addressed by the TRA at the strategic level consequently, all these factors necessitated early
development of Fifth Corporate Plan (CP5) for another period of five years commencing Jul y
2017. During the implementation of the Fourth Corporate Plan (CP4), TRA has been collecting

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on average more than 90% of the total Government Revenue against the set targets

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and its contribution to the Government recurrent budget has been about 68%. Revenue collection
has been growing remarkably over the years, whereby in first year of the plan TRA realized Shs.
9,383 billion while in the fourth year it is expected to realize TSh. 15 billion denoting an increase
of 61% over the 4-year period. To boost the Government’s ability to finance its recurrent budget,
TRA has undertaken a reassessment of the way it conducts its businesses and in so doing, it
looked at areas where it did well in order to sustain the achievement and identify
weaknesses/challenges that affected its performance so as to devise strategies that warrant
continual improvement in performance. The CP5 therefore has taken all these factors into
consideration, and it is expected that the strategies designed in this plan will take TRA into yet
another higher level of performance and cement its valuable contribution to enable the
Government to realize its priorities.

1.2 ROLES OF TRA

In discharging its responsibility of collecting Government Revenue, TRA is committed to

observe the following obligations to taxpayers/stakeholders.

 To issue correct tax assessment in accordance with tax laws.

 To collect taxes according to the existing tax laws, regulations, and procedures.
 To provide high quality services to taxpayers and other stakeholders.
 To handle all enquiries from taxpayers and other stakeholders so as to enable them to
fulfill their obligations.
 To manage all complaints from taxpayers and stakeholders with a view to providing
solutions and enable the TRA to improve service delivery.
 To recruit competent staff who shall ensure quality service delivery to taxpayers and
stakeholders.
 To educate taxpayers and other stakeholders on their rights and obligations.
 To issue tax forms and provide timely and accurate information in a simple language.
 To facilitate effective communications to taxpayers and other stakeholders.
 To cooperate with taxpayers and other stakeholders in a manner that shows respect,
dignity and a customer focused attitude.

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  To cooperate with the Tax Appeals Board/Tribunal and Courts of Law by ensuring timely
attendance and provision of evidence in order to resolve tax disputes. In the process TRA
will respect judicial decisions.
 TRA will provide advice to the Government and other government organs on matters
pertaining to fiscal policy and its implementation.
 To offer professional training on tax matters to stakeholders.
 To provide feedback for tax evasion information provided by taxpayers and the public,
and in case of tax recovery, the provider of information will be awarded 3 percent of tax
collected provided that the amount of reward will not exceed Tsh. 20 million.
 TRA officers have an obligation to show respect when they are performing their duties or
when the taxpayers need any service from TRA.

1.3 TRA’S MISSION, VISION, AND CORE VALUES

1.3.1 TRA’S MISSION

As per the statutory functions of TRA, the mission statement summarizes TRA’s purpose of
existence and how customers’ expectations will be met. TRA’s mission statement is: “We make
it easy to pay tax and make lives better”. An increase in revenue collection will enable the
Government to provide social services and eventually life better for the citizens.

1.3.2 TRA’S VISION

The Vision Statement provides the outlook and direction of the Authority to enable employee
carry out their responsibilities with a common purpose.

TRA’s vision statement is:

“To increase domestic revenue through enhancement of voluntary tax compliance”.

The vision 4 is in line with the Government priorities and plans such as National Development
Vision 2025, and the Second Five Year Development Plan 2016/17-2020/21 which emphasizes
on increasing domestic revenue contribution. In line with FYDP II TRA has estimated to
increase share of domestic revenue from 59.8% in 2016/17 to 86.8% by 2021/22. This will be

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achieved

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through improving efficiency in tax administration and continue widening the tax base to collect
more revenue especially from subsectors of manufacturing, financial and insurance, quarrying,
tourism, construction, real estate activities, and incomes from the informal sector.

1.3.3 TRA’S CORE VALUES

TRA core values are a handful of moral boundaries within which TRA operates. They define
TRA’s personality and are ethical standards by which TRA would be measured. The values are a
commitment to the stakeholders and are incorporated into all actions taken by the organization.

 Professionalism: Committed to applying the law consistently, responsible and with

credibility using the skills and knowledge as a prerequisite in administering our
requirements.
 Accountability: To build and sustain an organization that values and promotes
accountability.
 Integrity: To believe in being fair and honest in all organization dealings with taxpayers
and other stakeholders.

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 1.4 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

Figure 1. TRA's organization structure.

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CHAPTER TWO: ACTIVITES AT TRA KINONDONI & THEIR
THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS

2. NATURE OF ACTIVITIES

Activities I conducted at TRA Shekilango Tax Office varied from one field to another across
different things that needed to be worked on at the work premises. From reception with
customers, taxpaying assessment to control number and TIN registration, the activities I
conducted are as follows:

2.1 GENERATING CONTROL NUMBER

Tanzania Revenue Authority uses the Revenue Gateway System (RGS) to generate control
numbers for payments, the RGS can be found in the TRA website. The taxpayers can make
payments by using the control numbers generated by the RGS, and once the payments are done.
The records will appear in the ITAX also a TRA system.

2.2 RECORDING OF TIN NUMBERS

In this task, the TIN numbers are to be recorded in the appropriate record books. This includes
both Business and Non-business TIN, the business TIN records are to be recorded in the
Business TIN registration books and Non-business TIN are to be recorded in the non-business
registration books. These records will be kept and stored for the near future references.

2.3 ASSISTING TAXPAYERS AT THE RECEPTION

This task involves welcoming and listening to the different queries of the taxpayers and sorting
them out or directing them to the appropriate places so they can be sorted out. For example for
the taxpayers who are in need of the control numbers for payments, they are to be directed to the
Tax Management Officer so that he or she can get the Control numbers to make the necessary
payments.

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2.4 BIOMETRICS REGISTRATION

In this task, I was assigned to capture pictures, fingerprints and signatures of the taxpayers who
are in need of TIN numbers. After capturing the biometrics, the details will be uploaded into the
Tanzania Driving License System and the TIN system, this will help to identify the taxpayers
respectively and store their details for further references.

2.5 CREATING TIN NUMBERS

This task was accomplished through Online TIN registration, whereby the Taxpayer
Identification Number (TIN) is generated through online processing and the was accomplished
by the use of NIDA number which includes the Taxpayers biometric data. The taxpayer is to
respond to various questions so as to confirm his or her identity. Then the TIN number can be
processed afterwards.

2.6 ARRANGING OF FILES IN REGISTRY

In this task, I was assigned to arrange the Taxpayers business files in Registry room according to
their specific Blocks. The files are to be arranged according to their specific blocks depending on
the location of the taxpayers. These blocks include Buguruni Block, Tabata Block and so on. The
records are also very important for Annual assessments.

2.7 FILLING CHECKLIST FORMS

This task involves filling the checklist forms depending on the payments made by the taxpayer,
these payments could be corporate tax, VAT, PAYE, SDL, Withholding tax, Stamp Duty and so
on. The form is filled with reference to the ITAX which shows the payments made by the
taxpayers

2.8 ANALYZING TAXPAYERS WITH DEBTS

This task involves uploading names of the taxpayers who haven’t paid they tax depts in the
EXCEL sheets for the monthly tax collections. The taxpayers will later on be reminded to pay
their taxes so that the monthly collections can be achieved. The reminding process involves

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making of phone calls to the taxpayers and kindly requesting them to pay their debts.

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2.9 SURVEILLANCE SURVEYS

This task involves making an intensive survey to the taxpayer’s business areas so as to make sure
that they are paying the according tax and they use the EFD machines depending on the size of
the business. In this task also I was assigned to inspect the taxpayer’s vehicles so as to make sure
they pay their annual taxes and their previous debts and if the taxpayers do not comply to the tax
rules as agreed during the registrations, then an Offense will be directed to them.

3.0 EFD RECEIPT VERIFICATION

At the VAT Control Unit, I was tasked to use the EFD Management System to trace on all
transactions with verifiable receipts that have been rejected by the E-filing system. After tracing
that transaction we were obliged to compose a report indicating the reasons for rejection and
requesting the Regional Tax Manager to rethink the new computer input tax after several
adjustments.

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CHAPTER THREE: CASE STUDY

3. TRA’S E-FILING SYSTEM

The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) has introduced an electronic filing (e-filing) system to
improve tax compliance and increase efficiency in tax administration.

Prior to deploying the e-filing system, only the monthly value-added tax returns were filed
electronically and withholding tax certificates were generated electronically. The new e-filing
system allows the following additional tax returns to be filed electronically:

 Annual corporate income tax (CIT) returns

 Provisional income tax returns
 Monthly pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) returns
 Monthly skills and development levy (SDL) returns

All other tax returns are to be filed physically (paper copy) with the TRA.

Apart from filing tax returns electronically, the e-filing system will also enable entities to:

 appoint individual declarants who will submit tax returns on behalf of the entity.
 appoint a local audit firm and auditors for certification of income tax returns
before submission
 apply for extension of time to file returns and
 access and view filed returns and assessments which are electronically issued
after submission of the respective tax return.

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 CHAPTER FOUR: LESSONS & SKILLS ACQUIRED

4. INTRODUCTION

During my Practical Training at TRA, I managed to acquire different skills and competences in
various ways. I learnt a lot of things that I was not aware of before my practical training. During
my Practical Training I managed to learn many things which have helped me to expand my
knowledge and experience at the working place. After my practical training I had gained much
competence in performing various activities such as operating various systems, I was also able to
acquire skills in customer care services, computer applications using different software systems
and many others as explained below:

4.1 ETHICS AND MORAL OF WORK

Having no working experience before my Practical Training, my experience at TRA has helped
me know more on ethics and morals of work that are to be adhered to as a standard to the quality
of work done and the overall presence at the work premises. I learned how individual effort can
facilitate and bring about growth and achievement in the organization. As a learner I have
managed to learn on how I should dress properly, talk and behave at workplace, how people in
the organization conduct themselves, relate to each other, cooperate and work as a team and then
manage to execute their daily duties and responsibilities. This also includes punctuality.

4.2 DEALING WITH CUSTOMER’S COMPLAINS

I was able to learn on how to solve different queries that the customers have and that was
achieved through attending meetings with TRA’s customers, listening to their opinion and
working on them. I was able to learn on how to deal with customer face to face mostly when I
was assisting them at the reception. I have learned how to reply to the customers with a good and
polite language which will bring the satisfaction to them, I have managed to become competent
on this due to instruction and guidance given by my internal supervisor and made me capable of
dealing with customers independently.

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4.3 CREATING TIN FOR THE CUSTOMERS

I also managed to acquire skills on how to create TIN for the customers for non-business. I was
able to learn on how to upload biometric details in the Tanzania driving license system, and this
was the biggest area in which I became very competent, I learned about the requirement of
obtaining TIN, in order to get TIN a taxpayer should have one of the identifications Chairmans
letter, Voter’s card or NIDA

4.4 SELF-CONFIDENCE

During my training I managed to acquire Self-confidence skills. The training made me to realize
more on how I should have confidence on what I am doing and how I can work independently
without a help when my supervisor in case he was not around. I gained much confidence to
speak to different kind of people some are polite, and others are not polite but the confidence I
gained made me to make sure I bring their satisfaction. Providing services to different kind of
customers helped me gain more confidence skills. I was able to learn on how the structure
organization of the institution is much important in facilitating and bringing about daily duties
and responsibilities achievements. I learned how the branch manager of the organization works
and organizes everything so that every person must be responsible with his/her duties. I learned
how teamwork is very important in the organization in bringing about their goal achievements.

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 CHAPTER FIVE: CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED
5.1 INADEQUATE OF RESOURCES

During my practical training most of the tasks were performed through the use of computers
which were fixed for the employees but not for the practical training students. This made some
of the students not to have access to computers which made the studying process a bit difficult.

5.2 NETWORK PROBLEMS

The network problem had always been an issue sometimes during my practical training, most of
the customers used to complain about the frequent network problems. This made the whole
process of providing TIN for the customers and control numbers very difficult especially when it
comes to due date

5.3 SHORTAGE OF EMPLOYEES

The shortage of employees leads to a lot of work which was assigned to the practical training
students and considering the fact that the resources are inadequate then it became more difficult.

5.4 HARSH CUSTOMERS

Some of the taxpayers were not polite, this made the whole process of customer service a bit
difficult and sometimes the customers tend to use in appropriate language. This was very
difficult and considering the fact that you are trying to help the customer.

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 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 CONCLUSION

The 8 weeks of PT at TRA Buguruni Tax Office has been a great experience particularly in the
context of developing skills both hard and soft future worker in the field of economics and
statistics through fruitful interactions with the workers, customers, and my fellow students of
different courses from different institutions with interest in Economics and Statistics. This has
helped to encourage a change of personal mindset and mentality towards embarking my journey
of becoming a great player in the field of economics and statistics.

6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS

I would recommend that the government invests in ensuring smooth working of this new
software systems like the e-Filing system because they appear to be cost-effective, accurate and
reliable. That can be achieved by training people to use them effectively, ensuring network
stability to avoid downtimes etc.

I also recommend government firms to adjust research and data analysis further to PT students so
they can get their hands dirty with the real-life data and how they are manipulated to bring
statistics in our country.

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 REFERENCES

Authority, T. R. (2016). Publications: Annual Reports. Retrieved from TRA:

https://www.tra.go.tz/index.php/publications/501-annual-report-2014-2015

Authority, T. R. (2019). THE TANZANIA REVENUE AUTHORITY ACT [PRINCIPAL

LEGISLATION]. Revised Edition.

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