Ian Rumanyika, the Ag. Assistant Commissioner Public and Corporate Affairs at URA
Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has collected Shs18.6bn in tax revenue from Voluntary Disclosure Program in just five months.
This means that taxpayers are beginning to appreciate the importance of the program.
According to URA, Voluntary Disclosure is a process where a taxpayer discloses information about his/her business to URA without any prompting by any action or threat of action by URA.
Ian Rumanyika, the Ag. Assistant Commissioner Public and Corporate Affairs at URA, says that when a taxpayer enters into an agreement with the Commissioner to pay the outstanding unpaid tax, he or she shall not be required to pay any interest or fine due.
In an interview with Business Focus on Wednesday March 3, 2021 at URA head offices Nakawa, Rumanyika noted that the tax body has also collected Shs500bn from Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the last six months.
ADR is the procedure for settling disputes without litigation, such as arbitration, mediation, or negotiation
ADR also allows the parties to come up with more creative solutions that a court may not be legally allowed to impose.
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Rumanyika says URA is now more of a business enabler, the reason why enforcement including taking legal action against some unscrupulous taxpayers is a last resort.
“Voluntary Disclosure is more flexible and cost-efficient because it does away with litigation costs, time-effective, and gives both parties more control over the process and the results unlike arbitration,” Rumanyika says.
He adds that the Voluntary Disclosure Program is also used to correct inaccurate or incomplete information, or to disclose information not previously reported on a tax return.
