Zambia Revenue Authority system glitches persist despite restoration claims

The system glitches on Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) platform appear not to have abated despite claims that the country’s tax and customs systems had been restored following a technical outage that began on March 1. Checks by Zambia Monitor on Tuesday show that the Smart Invoice platform continues to return a “502 Bad Gateway” error. The access failure has prevented a number of businesses from generating Smart Invoices and other services required by clients to process payments, and file returns, thereby disrupting normal business operations.

In a statement on Sunday, Commissioner General, Dingani Banda, said key platforms — including ASYCUDAWorld, TaxOnline, Smart Invoice and the Integrated Payment System — had been brought back online within 72 hours of the outage. “As part of the remedial measures for the service disruption, the Authority will waive penalties and interest directly related to this outage,” Banda said. The outage earlier this month affected taxpayers and businesses across Zambia, limiting access to ZRA’s digital services and slowing compliance and customs processes.

Banda apologised for the disruption and urged taxpayers still experiencing difficulties to contact ZRA through its established communication channels. Despite the restoration announcement, access to Smart Invoice remains unavailable for fresh applicants and other users, raising questions over the full operational status of the system. When contacted, an official of the organization who chose to remain anonymous told this publication that while the system had been restored, it “keeps going on and off.” WARNING! This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express permission from ZAMBIA MONITOR.