By dragging Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) to court and ultimately forcing the tax collecting agency to make a further investigation on his company, Prevailing Security owner – Shadrack Baaitse might have subjected himself to a possible prosecution for tax evasion.
Through Prevailing Security – which is currently under Judicial Management, Baaitse is seeking reassessment of the company’s tax income bill for the years 2013 – 2017. New information however suggest that the company could be the one owing the taxman millions of Pulas in tax.
A source close to the matter said this week that the decision on whether to charge or not charge Baaitse has been delayed by the case as well as the placement of Prevailing Security under judicial management.
“There is an opening to lay criminal charges against him”, said the source further adding that BURS, which carried investigations on the company could soon furnish the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) with Baaitse/Prevailing Security files for possible criminal charges.
Last week Sunday Standard reported that Prevailing Security (Pty) Ltd has been found to have understated its taxable income for a period of five years.
In its investigations, BURS discovered that an amount of P72, 420, 714.39 was deposited into Prevailing Security (Pty) Ltd bank accounts from 2013 to 2018. Also, in question is the turnover declared by the company over the same period for Value Added Tax pegged at P19, 600, 974.00 and turnover declared by the company directors for the income tax as P34, 822, 056.00.
According to BURS, the figures demonstrate that Prevailing Security Pty Ltd’s incomings over the periods was understated in its tax returns for both VAT and income tax.
It has also emerged that the company’s failure to avail the required accounting records also had an unsurprising relevance in the ascertainment of its expenditure claims for income tax purposes and input tax claims for VAT purposes.
