KAMPALA — The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has opened the 2020/2021 financial year with a revenue surplus of about UGX278 billion.
In a statement, URA said for the month of July 2020, their net revenue collection was about UGX1.2 trillion against their target of Shs923.3 billion.
“The cumulative net surplus as of July 31, 2020 was UGX278 billion,” URA said.
From domestic taxes, the tax body made gross collections of UGX732 billion in July against a target of UGX574 billion, registering a surplus of UGX158. 6 billion.
The development is a relief to the tax body whose revenue closing the last financial year was severely affected by the Covid-19. URA registered a UGX3 trillion revenue deficit in the last financial year.
URA manager for public and corporate affairs Ian Rumanyika, attributed the surplus revenue in July, to efficient internal administrative measures such as the implementation of digital tax stamps (DTS) which have helped stop under-declaration at production and importation levels.
Starting July 2020, the tax man rolled out the use of Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs) in providing e-receipts and digital tax stamps and expand the range of products covered, to deter under-declaration of production and importation.
He added that new systems such as Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS) have also improved tax collection. EFRIS is also useful in curbing false refund claims, fictitious purchases with no physical movement of goods, and unverifiable claims by taxpayers due to loss of records.
Mr Rumanyika said they expected revenue collection to improve further given that the Covid-19 lockdown measures are slowly being lifted.
In addition, URA has widened the scope of the income tax withholding agents across all sectors to broaden the tax base and implement the digital collection solution to enhance rental tax collection.
This financial year’s revenue target is UGX21.8 trillion.
