Cancellation of TIN

I run a bakery business in the city of Dar es Salaam and one of my business advisors suggested that I change the name of my business to attract more customers. Following this advice, I recently changed the name of my business and have been getting many more customers. However, last week, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) officers conducted an inspection of my business and warned me that my Tax Identification Number (TIN) will be cancelled because of the change of name. I do not think this is fair. Why should TRA cancel my TIN while I have complied with all the legal requirements in the process of changing the business name. Please guide me.
EM, Dar es Salaam

Congratulations on your business doing well. It is good that you complied with all the legal requirements regarding change of a business name.  However, you should note that the business name is a crucial detail and its change affects the formal records kept by government authorities. You therefore need to inform the authorities about the change of the business name. Generally, matters of tax administration are governed by the Tax Administration Act [Cap. 438 R.E 2019] (TAA)].

The TRA does not restrict changing business names. However, for administrative purposes, section 25(2) of the TAA, requires that a person who owns a TIN shall, in writing and within 30 days from the date of any change of details referred to in the TIN Certificate, notify the Commissioner General of the changes in the certificate. The Commissioner General may, without cancelling a TIN, then issue a person with an amended TIN certificate when appropriate. In case you fail to do so within the specified time, the Commissioner General shall cancel a TIN where he is satisfied, among other things, that the identity of a person holding the certificate is different from the identity of a person to whom the certificate was issued. In that regard, changing of the business name without informing TRA is a reasonable ground to warrant cancellation of TIN. We advise you to write to the Commissioner General as required by the law and rectify this. In our experience, the TRA has no issues with such a change as you still continue remaining in the tax base.