(TIMES) SMEs need more tax incentives

SMEs need more tax incentives
By Business Reporter

THERE is need to devise special regulations and tax incentives for Small and Medium enterprise (SMEs) to help them develop and prosper, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) head of small business affairs at the headquarters in London, Robin Jarvis, has said. Professor Jarvis said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that SMEs should not be subjected to regulations and taxation that were applied to large companies that were fairly financial strong.

He said that there was need to come up with a specific regulation targeted for SMEs unlike the current scenario in most economies where SMEs were subjected to the same regulations with large companies.

“We need to come up with particular regulations for SMEs as well as other regulations for large enterprises. For instance, we shouldn’t subject SMEs to the high taxation system,” he said.

Professor Jarvis cited France where the Government in that country reduced the Value Added Tax (VAT) for some industries from 19.5 to about five per cent as one of the significant measures aimed at supporting SMEs. He explained that the French the Government was still able to raise revenue despite the reductions in VAT

Professor Jarvis also reiterated the importance of stable on macroeconomic factors
to support growth among the Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). He was in Zambia recently to participate as the main speaker at the ACCA regional conference for SMEs whose theme was BETTER ZAMBIA 2007.

Among the topics that were discussed at the conference included taxation, bank finance and finance skills, skills for Zambian SMEs, Government policy towards SMEs, future of enterprise in Zambia, how to start and grow a business, financial reporting, cash flow management, production of bankable business plans and succession planning.