Prime
Museveni’s meeting with traders postponed
President Museveni arrives for the meeting with the traders on May 7, 2024.
What you need to know:
- Days after the May 7 meeting Mr Museveni ordered URA to waive Efris penalties against traders, the Authority implemented the directive which saw over 2000 traders benefiting.
The meeting between President Museveni and city traders which had been scheduled to take place on Thursday has been postponed.
This has been revealed by the leaders of traders following a meeting with the President at State House, Entebbe on Tuesday.
The chairperson of Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA), Mr Thadeus Musoke and Mr John Kabanda, the chairperson of the Federation of Uganda’s Traders Associations (FUTA) said in a joint statement that they had agreed with President Museveni to reschedule the meeting that was meant to take place this Thursday at Kololo Ceremonial grounds to June 31, 2024, as both sides make thorough research on the subject matter, so that they come up with a final resolution to end a long standing dispute over Uganda Revenue Authority (URA)’s Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS).
Previous meetings
The President first met the traders’ leaders on April 19 following their weeklong sit-down strike where a section of traders in downtown Kampala and other cities had closed their shops protesting the rough implementation of Efris and what they termed as unfair taxes.
Another general meeting was held at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds on May 7, where traders raised their issues prompting Mr Museveni to, among others, order URA to waive these penalties and also stop forcing traders to buy the Efris machines but rather allow them to use their smart mobile handsets and printers that cost Shs150,000 to implement Efris.
Days after Mr Museveni ordered URA to waive Efris penalties against traders, the Authority implemented the directive which saw over 2000 traders benefiting.
The taxman rolled out the Efris, an automated compliance process, on January 1, 2021, mandating all Value Added Tax (VAT) taxpayers whose business makes more than Shs150m annual sales to enrol on it.
The system entails the use of Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFD), issuing e-invoices, e- receipts so that it is easy for URA to track real-time transactions.
