URA Commissioner general optimistic about the authority’s performance

While addressing the country on the revenue performance for the financial year July-March 2021/22, the commissioner general of Uganda Revenue Authority John R. Musinguzi said that the performance of the past nine months has made them optimistic that they will hit the annual target of 22,363.51 billion UGX.

According to Musinguzi, in the first nine months of the financial year 2020/21, the Uganda Revenue Authority had a target of collecting 16,532.43 billion UGX but instead the actual net revenue collections were 15,466.68 billion hence making a 1,065.75 billion UGX short of target.

“I appreciate each tax payer and i call upon Ugandans to collaborate with us as we develop the country together” Musinguzi added.

Though the Authority still recognizes the impact of covid19 on businesses, it has however noted that the net collections have consistently increased in absolute terms over the nine months period and it commended the all the tax payers for the consistent fulfillment of tax obligations.

In the first nine months of the financial year 2021/22 the domestic revenue collection registered a growth of 816.22 billion UGX compared to the same period in the last financial year though the collections were below the target by 1,185.70 billion UGX.

Direct domestic taxes posted a performance of 94.1% in the last nine months and it grew by 273.94billion UGX compared to the same period in the last financial year.

Under Direct domestic taxes, the major surpluses registered were Pay As You Earn, Casino tax and tax on bank interest while shortfalls were mainly incurred in corporate tax, withholding, rental tax and treasury bills and this was mainly due to the covid19 pandemic restrictions.

The Authority also witnessed under performance in the construction sector, beer, spirits, soft drinks and real estate under indirect domestic taxes performance but in the same period it also registered surpluses in levy on mobile money withdrawals, transfers and sugar hence a total amount of 3,602.86 billion UGX.

Under International trade tax collections, the Uganda Revenue Authority registered a surplus of 64.49billion UGX against the target of 6,191.44 billion UGX and this performance was mainly attributed to growth in vatable goods and the increase in fuel volumes due to the increase in petrol imports, jet fuels and kerosene.

In the period of July to March of the FY 2021/22, the Authority added 538,275 new tax payers to the register making the number rise to 2,321,828 by the end of March and this was attributed to key initiatives like use of third-party data sharing and analysis, Taxpayer register expansion program and also mobile tax education using the Tujenge bus across different parts of the country especially in remote areas.

The debt collection unit recovered a total of 82.28 billion against the target of 60.00billion UGX plus the prosecution and civil litigation also registered 67 cases ruled in favor of URA.

The Commissioner general who was great-full for the high taxes collected especially in March and April 2022 was accompanied by Sarah Chelengat the commissioner general Domestic tax, Abel Kagamire the commissioner customs, Robert Mutebi the commissioner information technology and other officials in the Authority.