Taxpayers are set to win prizes in the new Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) tax-collecting campaign dubbed, ‘Mpa e-receipt Yange’.
Launched by John Musinguzi, commissioner general of URA, the campaign is aimed at promoting a culture of tracking one’s spending and verifying that the indirect taxes paid upon making purchases are indeed remitted to the government.
Prizes to be won include; laptops, fridges, motorcycles, phones, and sundry. Musinguzi says the e-receipt campaign is designed to revolutionize the tax ecosystem by promoting the use of electronic receipts in business transactions, nurturing a culture of issuance of receipts by business owners through the adoption of Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS) – which in the long term will reduce and eliminate tax evasion.
Since the launch of EFRIS in 2022, there has been a low uptake of the technology due to lack of money to buy the electronic fiscal device, however, the tax body says it’s working to establish easier technology to deploy on any platform without spending on the devices which businesses have not budgeted for.
“It is important to pay taxes. Businesses can only thrive if they have an accurate record of what they have sold and earned. The future of the e-receipt campaign and everybody embracing it is that there will be no more guesswork about how much money you have made,” Musinguzi said.
The filing will be automatic and one will be able to collectively assess and know how much income tax is payable and how much VAT is payable.
Sarah Muzungyo Chelangat, URA commissioner for domestic taxes said the campaign marks a significant milestone in efforts to enhance domestic revenue mobilization and foster transparency in tax administration.
“The whole idea behind the e-receipts is that we want to look at a situation where we will not be asking people for physical receipts, we will be able to see through your business transactions in real-time that we are able to monitor the transactions of our taxpayers,” she said.
She said developing countries have resorted to indirect taxes because they offer a leveled ground in tax administration. She added that “indirect taxes are about equity, and consumption. We can pay this tax because we can afford it. If you are able to buy chapati, and cooking oil, it means that you can afford to pay that excise duty. It is a fair tax and easier to collect because most of these taxes are paid on the prices of the items.”
The tax body said since the launch of EFRIS, there is a significant increase of 43 per cent in VAT collection and that the figures can to rise 100 per cent if each one of the Ugandans embraces the e-receipt campaign.
Source: The Observer
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