Patience Tumusiime Rubagumya, the Commissioner Legal Services and Board Affairs at URA
Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) is confident that by the close of the Financial Year 2020/21 which is just a few days away, the tax body will have met its revenue collection target 100%.
This financial year 2020/21 (July 2020 to June 2021), URA is expected to collect Shs19.69 trillion (revised), compared to what was targeted last financial year 2019/20 at Shs20.34 trillion.
Dr. Geoffrey Okaka who represented Commissioner Customs and Moses Odongo, the Ag. Commissioner Domestic Taxes made this assurance on day two of the post budget e-conference at the Statistics House in Kampala on Wednesday.
Odongo and Okaka formed part of the panel discussion which focused on the tax policy measures, avenues for revenue generation and how tax policy will aid economic recovery. This topic was guided by the sub theme: How Tax Policies and Measures are aiding Economic Recovery.
During the engagement, Odongo revealed that the tax body is at over 90% revenue collection as of June 16, 2021.
“We are focusing on what we can achieve within these few days,” he assured participants. According to Odongo, taxpayers are continuing to file returns. This, he says, will go on until the end of the month.
He says URA is also focusing on provisional returns as well as final returns for the year. With these, Odongo is sure that the authority will hit 100% target.
As at the end of April 2021, URA had collected Shs15.585 trillion.
Odongo’s assurance was supported by his counterpart, Okaka. According to Okaka, “We are very optimistic that we will meet our target for the year. I would say right now we are at 93%. In the remaining few days, we should be able to meet our target.”
Earlier, Patience Tumusiime Rubagumya, the Commissioner Legal Services and Board Affairs, who represented the Commissioner General made a similar assurance.
“Yesterday (15th June, 2021) was the monthly filing date and we got many taxpayers filing their returns and paying their taxes. We salute everyone who did this successfully and we urge everyone who is yet to do it to go ahead and file before 30th June, 2021,” she said.
Speaking about what it is like collecting taxes during a pandemic as well as hitting the target, Okaka said URA has intensified enforcement and that the surveillance team is doing a good job.
Other strategies, Okaka said are securing the supply chain (movement of cargo from the port to its various destinations, coordinated border management, putting up a single window program that brings together all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government that he says now allows for easy clearance of cargo online as well as what he described as pre-arrival information on the cargo.
According to Okaka, pre-arrival information facilitates or reduces the cost of doing business.
On the other hand, Odongo attributes the success to efficient processes and systems put in place. Odongo says implementation of solutions like EFRIS and DTS has helped URA make informed decisions based on the data gathered through the solutions. So far, Odongo says the number of taxpayers on the DTS has grown.
In order to enhance revenue collection, the Fish Interventions (Amendment) Bill, 2021 introduces an export levy at a rate of 8% of the total value of fish maw exported out of Uganda. This shall be paid by the exporter to URA at exportation.
2021/22 FY
Tumusiime says the budget for FY 2021/22 is premised on mobilizing a higher level of domestic revenue and enhancing the returns from public investment. As a result, she said. URA is to mobilize about Shs20.8 trillion and about Shs1.6Tn from Tax revenue and Non-Tax revenue respectively.
She is confident that the target set for the financial year 2021/22 will be met and this, she noted, is all aimed at ensuring that the country reduces donor dependence. “This mission will take every Ugandan,” she said.
To achieve the 2021/2022 target, she says URA has adopted the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA++) which has improved efficiency in customs clearance procedures and helped running a computerized risk-management system.
On top of this, she says the staff of URA are a very critical resource that the government has and that there has to be significant investment made towards improving their capacity.
“We have a detailed program in place to achieve this objective,” she assured participants.
Tumusiine says URA shall continue using Alternative Dispute Resolution to solve legal disputes through the power of dialogue. The legal mechanism, she explained, is a lengthy process which leads to money getting held up in the legal system. Last year alone, she revealed, “we raised Ugx 250Bn through ADR.”
Now, she says URA is introducing the Mobile Tax Office model of service.
“We shall have fully equipped buses on the road very soon to bring not only tax education to every town and village in Uganda but the services too. We want to build a culture of civic duty right from a young age and we believe that schools are a good starting point. We have programs in schools where students are engaged in tax debates and many other tax education activities,” she said.
Tumusiime notes that the tax body is leveraging technology to make tax administration and compliance much simpler. For example, she says, the Kakasa Business solutions (DTS and EFRIS) are on course as expected. But, she adds, URA is now working towards automating the debt collection process among other new initiatives.
But above all this, URA wants to ensure voluntary tax payment.
“Yes, we have enforcement measures that we resort to once in a while to collect tax. But we have re-strategized to deliberately ensure voluntary compliance through improved service delivery and enhanced tax education,” Tumusiime said.
According to Moses Kaggwa, the Ag. Director Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, tax is never a punishment but a contribution.
“The first thing you have to note is that tax is never a punishment, it’s a contribution. In other words, it is not a crime to pay taxes – but rather – a patriotic duty by which we all collectively contribute to the national basket,” he said.
He assured the country that taxes are being put to good use except in some incidences where they are abused through corruption as highlighted in the Auditor general’s report.
