The challenge
Joseph, an average business owner in Botswana, used to struggle a lot when it came to filing his company’s VAT returns at Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS). He had to take a whole day off from his business and stand in line at a BURS office to submit the paperwork. The whole process was even more labored as the tax forms were complicated, and he had to use the help of a tax agent who charged Joseph up to 150 US dollars. As a private person, he faced the same kind of problem when he had to file his annual income tax returns and pay his tax. Standing in line for hours after paying a tax agent to help him fill out the forms made Joseph furious. People at BURS were not happy either; it was clear that Batswana were not satisfied with their services and the tax gap was too big. Something had to be done.
