The immediate implications of COVID-19 do not need to be recounted to an adult who is in control of their faculties. We have all been devastated in all kinds of ways and different arms of government have tried their level best to address issues in their control.
At the forefront, the President, the Prime Minister, and Minister for Health were clearly at the front line, and as they say in Swahili, fighting in the trenches bega kwa bega (shoulder to shoulder).
The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) as usual finds itself in an awkward situation as it tries to execute its mandate and attract the same standing ovation that the Ministry of Health is receiving.
On 25th March 2020, the URA issued a public notice with business continuity measures during the COVID-19 lockdown. According to the notice, taxpayers whose accounting date is in September and are unable to file corporation tax returns by 31st March 2020, were granted a two-month extension up to May 2020 to file their final returns. In respect to Value Added Tax, Pay As You Earn, Local Excise Duty, Withholding Tax and Taxes under Lottery & Gaming, returns due for March were the filing date for March returns was extended from 15th April to 30th April 2020.
The notice also provided for remitting of penalties for late filing of returns that were due on 15th March 2020 if filed by 31st March 2020, deferment and rescheduling of payments under Memoranda of Understanding due in March and April, and remittance of interest and penalty for taxpayers who make voluntary disclosure during March and April, by payment of the principal tax only.
What the public notice did not mention was the actual bottom line – “payment”. One would want to think that what the government is ultimately interested in are not piles of tax returns but piles of money. This then raises some pertinent questions, that ought to be answered.
- If URA allows a taxpayer to defer filing a tax return but remains silent about deferred payment, what is one supposed to assume?
- Put another way, if after the lockdown URA says that the relief was only in regards to filing and not payment should a taxpayer really be grateful?
- What about the so many other tax-related obligations affected by the lockdown that were not mentioned in the public notice?
- In cases of tax queries arising during the lockdown (which require time-bound responses) and I or any other taxpayer can neither access the documents due to movement restrictions nor access the accountant who is stuck at home or other personnel whose signatures are required to remit payment, what is one supposed to do?
- What happens if URA issues an agency notice without notice and I am stuck at home helpless?
- If I need an interim order restraining URA from attaching my bank accounts, how do I access the Court?
- What about the case where I need to file an appeal within 30 days of receiving a tax objection decision and this cannot be possible due to the lockdown?
- URA has over the years refused to waive interest or penalty on the basis that it is only the Minister of Finance with such powers. What is the validity of the waivers URA is promising?
On top of these obstacles, the Public Notice was issued during the first 14-day lockdown and mainly covered tax obligations due in February, March, and April but when the lockdown was extended for another 21 days, URA did not issue any other notice.
Companies Rise or Fall on How Well They Renew Their LeadersIt is not a public secret that these different issues will come to bite different persons when Covid-19 is a faint memory and at that time I expect the standard response from the tax technocrat who will say they can only implement what is in black and white.
Dear Minister of Finance and Commissioner General URA, please answer these humble questions when this issue is still a hot potato.
“To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men (and women)” Edmund Burke
Yours faithfully,
The Taxpayer
