URA asked to sensitise public on tax assessment procedures

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda Revenue Authority-URA has been challenged to sensitise the public on Tax Assessment Procedures

During their URA public engagement in Masaka district on Friday, taxi payers through the Masaka municipality member of Parliament Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba raised concerns of the unclear computation of income tax rates levied on them.

Under the provisions of Income Tax Amendment Act of 2017, URA charges a 10% tax on businesspersons earning monthly incomes exceeding shillings 235,000. The rate increases to 20% and 30% when the chargeable amounts exceed Shillings 335,000 and 410,000 respectively.

However, according to Mpuuga, the tax has largely remained unclear and creates a lot of ambiguity among the business communities.

He demands URA not to take advantage of the apparent ignorance of the taxpayers to exploit them, but to perform its obligation of orienting them about the tax.

Mpuuga, on the other hand, asked Doris Akol, the Commissioner General of URA to work out a program of further simplifying the tax language such that ordinary taxpayer can clearly understand their obligations which will, in turn, improve compliance levels.

Jolly Kasande, a wholesale shop operator in Sembabule district and Denis Masembe a trader in Masaka town bemoaned what they called exorbitant tax levies, some of which they want reviewed.

Masembe argues that they are being affected by the multiple taxes charged on them coupled with high costs of running their businesses, something that my throw many of them out trade.

But General Doris Akol the URA Commissioner says some of the ambiguities are largely caused by failure of many taxpayers to regularly file their returns and maintain proper books of accounts.

Akol urged that traders to freely cooperate with authority staffs and seek assistance from them such that they can agree on proper working relationships.

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