The Commissioner-General John Musinguzi Rujoki expressed fear that the coming quarter might be harder but added that the commission and the economy as a whole will be more resilient.
The
Uganda Revenue Authority has recorded a surprise surplus of more than 1 trillion Shillings in collections for the
the first quarter of the financial year 2020/2021. In
all the three months July to September, collections were above the target,
reversing the high under-performing trend recorded between April and June, the
months that the country was under strict lockdown measures.
The
revenue collection for the Quarter amounted to 4.070 trillion Shillings, against the set target of 2.999 trillion Shillings. These
are targets arising from the review of the 2020/2021 budget that saw the target
for the year set for URA revised from 22 trillion Shillings to 19.7 trillion Shillings to respond to the imminent effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The revision followed arguments that the budgetary provisions had been made before
the full effects of the pandemic were gauged and this could lead to erroneous
budgeting and budget implementation. In the
budget, areas like health, security and SMEs had their allocations increased, while
the government also announced that some taxes would be suspended or deferred to
help mitigate the effects of the pandemic on investments.
This,
together with the slowdown in personal incomes as well as a slowdown in business
activities led to the revision of the target downwards. The
surplus gives hope to the tax body that the target will be met. More than three-quarters of the revenues were from the five top revenue sources, with wholesale
and retail trade leading with 30.66 per cent, while revenues from manufacture accounted
for 23.17 per cent, ICT 9.3 per cent, financial and insurance services 7.69 per cent and public
administration 5.6 per cent.
The
sectors that recorded the highest growth rates as revenue sources were manufacture
ring, ICT and wholesale, according to the quarterly revenue performance report. Sectors
that were highly affected by the pandemic and the measures against the spread
also recorded the biggest decline in revenue collections. Accommodation
and food sector topped with a decline of almost 59 per cent, followed by
education, arts, entertainment and recreation, as well as water supply.
The Commissioner-General John Musinguzi Rujoki expressed fear that the coming quarter might be harder but added that the commission and the economy as a
whole will be more resilient.
//Cue
in; When you see…
Cue
out…survive these things.”//
The
URA says they will continue strengthening the digital platforms like assessment
and payment systems, surveillance and tracking systems among others, to ensure better
tax management. But the
Commissioner for domestic taxes Abel Kagumire urged taxpayers to take
advantage of the peaceful avenues that have been put in place for taxpayers who
my find issues, including settling out of court as well as voluntary
disclosures.