URA honours top taxpayers and partners: CEO Magazine’s Muhereza Kyamutetera scoops award

CEO East Africa Magazine Editorial Director Muhereza Kyamutetera has been recognized as a strategic media partner by Uganda Revenue Authority.

On Friday, URA awarded top taxpayers and partners, as it concluded the Taxpayer Appreciation Season that has been running since October.

Speaking during the ceremony that took place at Mestil Hotel in Kampala, URA Commissioner General John Rujoki Musinguzi said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that in every challenge, there is an opportunity. At URA we are fully aware of the impact that the pandemic has had on businesses, but also that the solutions to dust ourselves up are within us as a nation.

Because of you, and the Government’s efforts, we were able to perform well during the period July – November, 2020 and we cannot thank you enough for making a positive contribution towards developing our Nation by fulfilling your tax obligations.”

The commissioner general also encouraged Ugandans to pay their fair share of taxes in order for the country to be self-reliant and reduce the external debt burden. He also revealed some of the mechanisms that the taxman is putting in place to enhance compliance.

“At URA we are instituting mechanisms through which all qualifying citizens and economic players shall be able to make their fair contribution to the revenue basket and these are all within the ambit of the Domestic Resource Mobilization Strategy.

To this end we are implementing several compliance enhancement initiatives such as;

• Encouraging taxpayers to embrace the voluntary disclosure avenue by doing a tax health check and cleaning their tax accounts with us without being penalized. Isaiah 1:18-20.
• We have adopted the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution to amicably resolve tax disputes with taxpayers.
• We are also collaborating with various stakeholders in the private sector and government agencies especially in areas of information exchange and system integrations to expand our tax register and accurately assess tax.
• We have purposed to demystify the tax regime and make it easily understood by everyone, through aggressive and elaborate tax education programs aimed at equipping our taxpayers with knowledge of both their rights and obligations.
• We will continue to adopt the use of enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analytics to identify potential revenue, and enhance the support to our taxpayers, use drones in surveillance of our borders, and non-intrusive inspection technologies to facilitate trade. For instance, we have rolled out the Digital Tracking Solution and Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing System to improve the collection of Local Excise Duty and VAT respectively.
• We are currently revamping our contact center that will enable us to provide real time service support to our clients.

The tax authority’s board chairman Juma Kisaame revealed that domestic taxes have done better than other sources thanks to more Ugandans embracing tax payment.

“I am happy to report that for the first quarter of this financial year, 2020/21 we collected gross revenue of UGX 4,170,505,209 Trillion of which 59% (UGX 2,456,458,939) was from domestic Taxes while 14% (1,714,046,269) was from taxes on international trade. We extend our appreciation to the taxpayers who have made this happen and for fulfilling their tax obligations,” he said.  

Ian Rumanyika, Manager Public and Corporate Affairs noted that through appreciating the compliant taxpayers, the authority reinforces voluntary compliance and hence improved revenue collections that are being realised:

He said: “During the Taxpayer Appreciation Season we have been able to recognize our true sources of tax revenue from taxpayers across the country, we celebrated top 10 most compliant taxpayers in the SME category per District, these we continue to profile, listed top 25 per region and rewarded top 15 compliant in the country and visited over 150 country wide. 

“Through this gratitude gesture from the Taxman to the taxpayer, we promote voluntary compliance, position URA as a listening partner, a business enabler and a service oriented organisation. Ultimately, we always see improved revenue collections.”

He added: “We are cognisant of the current times of COVID 19, and we are ready to walk the journey together with Taxpayers for the good of our nation. We particularly dedicated this season to appreciate compliant taxpayers especially those that remained compliant despite the hardships faced during Covid-19 pandemic, we celebrate their resilience. Thank you for paying your Taxes. 

Below is the list of different winners who walked away with different awards