URA partners with IMF to boost revenue collections

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The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has partnered with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to boost revenue collections.

On Wednesday (October 16), URA Commissioner General John Musinguzi hosted IMF’s Resident Representative for Uganda, Clara Mira, at their headquarters in Kampala.

“We explored strategic avenues we can pursue to enhance Uganda’s revenue collection efforts hinged on key areas such as transfer pricing, capacity building in international taxation, leveraging data for smarter tax administration decision-making, and scaling up tax education,” Musinguzi said on social media platform X.

He said partnerships such as the one established with IMF are crucial in positioning URA strategically for greater efficiency.

URA has of late been exceeding monthly revenue targets and registering surplus due to taxpayers’ commitment to meeting their tax obligations and the ongoing reforms in tax administration.

As of May 2023, the tax body’s register had about 3.2 million taxpayers.

“Whereas we could be having nine million potential taxpayers, our register now has about 3.2 million people, but it’s an increase from about 1.5 million taxpayers that we had two years ago,” Musinguzi said at the time.

He said he looks forward to the time when Uganda’s budget will be fully supported by the taxes collected internally.

According to the URA chief, when taxpayers perform their civic duty each year, they help fund critical aspects of Uganda’s social amenities ranging from schools, roads, hospitals and its military.

 “Therefore, it is incumbent upon all of us to be compliant with our tax obligations for this to happen. Those of you that are still lagging behind on this important calling, as the national fundraiser, we pledge our availability, support and commitment to make available the information, services and technical support that you need to get on board,” he said.

 URA has already pledged to bolster its tax administration efforts to achieve its revenue target of sh31.98 trillion for this financial year.

The sh72.136 trillion budget for this financial year, which began on July 1, comprises recurrent expenditure of sh18.9 trillion and development expenditure of sh34.7 trillion, with the total amount including statutory expenditure standing at sh72.136 trillion.

President Yoweri Museveni has been calling upon the URA to plug gaps in tax collection so that the country can gain financial independence and stop borrowing money to finance its budget.