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URA seeks to add 500, 000 new tax payers annually
URA head quarters in Kampala, Uganda. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- 1,783,493: The number of taxpayers currently on Uganda Revenue Authority’s register.
Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has started a campaign in which it will seek to add at least 500, 000 new tax payers on its data base annually in the next five years.
The campaign, among others, seeks to widen Uganda’s tax base from the current 12 per cent to at least 16 per cent, which is sub-Saharan Africa’s average.
It is also part of the larger plan in which URA will seek to double Uganda’s tax to gross domestic product ratio from the current 12 per cent.
The campaign, which includes dispatch of a Shs1.4b fully fledged mobile office, will among others, educate Ugandans the importance of paying taxes as well as recruit new tax payers.
Mr Ian Rumanyika, the URA acting assistant commissioner public and corporate affairs, said through the campaign, they will seek to bring on board 500, 000 new tax payers with a pilot project that will comb eastern Uganda, before spreading to other regions.
“We have deployed the mobile (bus) office in eastern Uganda. We are testing the waters before we fully dive in. Going forward, we shall be using the mobile office to access places where we are not physically present,” he said, noting they will also respectfully educate tax payers to appreciate the culture of paying.
This was during the flagging off the mobile office early this week.
At the moment there are about 1.7 million taxpayers on the tax register, therefore, according to Mr Rumanyika, the mobile office will be one of the avenues through which they will seek to grow the tax base to at least 2.2m.
“We are looking at increasing the tax register with 500, 000 new taxpayers every financial year over the next five years,” he said.
In the 2020/21 financial year, URA collected Shs19.2 trillion, posting growth in revenue of 14 per cent compared to the 2019/20 financial year.
During the period, the ratio of tax to gross domestic product grew to 12.99 per cent, an increase of 1 per cent, the highest in the last four years.
In the 2020/21 financial year, according to URA, at least 189,377 new taxpayers were added to the register, which increased the number of taxpayers to 1,783,493.
URA has also sought to improve a number of processes including Tax Identification Number registration as well as taking advantage of technology to digitise the tax systems.
