Uganda Revenue Authority advised to do tax education on the new methods introduced.

NEWS: As the business owners’ strike enters the second day, the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) have been called upon to first educate taxpayers on the new tax collection systems introduced.

Traders in the City Center and some areas of the country initiated a five-day sit-down strike to voice their opposition to the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solutions (EFRIS) system introduced by the Tax Collection Body.

Speaking to the media at the Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises headquarters the Executive Director John Kakungulu Walugembe, of the said that the Government was right to introduce new Tax collecting systems to enable it mobilize taxes for development.

John Walugembe however pointed a figure at the taxation body for taking a confrontation and militaristic approach, not focusing on VAT Registered tax payers whom the EFRIS system is targeting.

“Government has been lenient to say let us work with the existing taxes. The challenge is that the government is introducing new taxes and enforcing the EFRIS system solution for VAT Registered traders which is a good gesture to have begun with the VAT Registered taxpayers. The only challenge is that the Taxation body has gone to enforce it in a wrong way by involving other arms of state that have no business engaging traders, talk of Police Army ” said John Kakungulu Walugembe.

Last week, the civil society thought an intervention of the permanent secretary to the treasury, admitting that while paying taxes which is the civil obligation, the taxman enforcement measures appear counterproductive.

It should be recalled that the Government had earlier revealed that Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) intends to collect at least Shs31.574 trillion throughout the Financial Year 2024/2025 as revenue, an amount many described as too ambitious.