URA Revamps Ledger System to Improve Transparency

The Uganda Revenue Authority has revamped the tax ledger register for all taxpayers to improve transparency and compliance in tax collection. The URA Commissioner General, John Musinguzi, revealed this innovation during the launch of the voluntary Disclosure Program focusing on foreign accounting information and offshore assets under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) at Kampala Serena Hotel, recently.

According to Musinguzi, the new system enables taxpayers to track with ease their tax payment records, and their outstanding tax obligations, make timely declarations and filing returns, and a simplified process for computing Value Added Tax-VAT, without physically interfacing with the URA staff.

Currently, URA staff are conducting trainings to different taxpayer groups to enable them navigate the system and pay their fair share of tax. So far, taxpayers in these categories have been trained; Tax agents, Medium Taxpayer Office, Large Taxpayer Office and the Oil & Gas Office.

Musinguzi said that apart from improving transparency in revenue collection, the new system has come in to address the un-ending clashes between the Taxman and the taxpayer, over unclear principal and actual amounts of tax to pay.

“What the new system does is you[URA] are transparently displaying the tax register to all our taxpayers in a clear manner periodically, clearly categorizing per tax head so that everybody who wants to know what their tax obligations are including arrears can do so without needing much help from anybody to interpret it for him,” Musinguzi said on how effective the system is.

Musinguzi is optimistic that this new reform will be a great milestone toward expanding the country’s tax collection performances, which has been witnessed by the growth of the taxpayers’ register.

“Like any new system there will be some errors but we assure you, where we are going, we can see it, we shall have a better relationship with our taxpayers and especially the large taxpayers, credible tax agents, the High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI),” Musinguzi assured Ugandans.