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Representatives of the Urban Smart Traders Association (USTA) have held a meeting with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Commissioner General John Musinguzi and discussed the growing online trade and how Uganda can effectively benefit from it through taxes.

The team was led by  Kaboggoza Nsamu Badru, the Chairman of USTA, and Dr. Hillary Emmanuel Musoke Kisanja, the Private Secretary to the President for Youth who revealed that they have developed an online marketplace called “pearlug.com” that will be operating in 14 African markets and the United Arab Emirates. 

In the Friday meeting, they sought a partnership in promoting and establishing the site, noting that Uganda could benefit through taxes from trade conducted on the site.

Kaboggoza disclosed that they are organising a digital trade conference to enroll merchants on the platform and sensitize the youth on how to utilise the internet to generate sustainable income and employment.

He invited URA to participate and provide tax identification numbers to the subscribing merchants.

Musinguzi applauded the idea, saying it would provide an inroad to taxing online businesses.

He tasked the team to devise means of collecting VAT from the site users and remitting it to URA.

He also requested for time to understand their business processes to support them better.