URA, getting a TIN is a nightmare
EDITOR: I am frustrated with the Uganda Revenue Authority’s (URA) process of getting a new tax identification number (TIN).<br>I started out by making a trip to the URA office at Crested Towers.
EDITOR: I am frustrated with the Uganda Revenue Authority’s (URA) process of getting a new tax identification number (TIN).
I started out by making a trip to the URA office at Crested Towers.
The officer I contacted told me that everything about TINs is done online. Nothing wrong with that.
I went online and began the laborious process of first downloading, and then filling out all the required fields in the Excel spreadsheet. All went well until I uploaded the file to the URA website.
Every time I uploaded the file, it returned with the message that my referee's TIN was not valid! As common sense dictates, I got three different referees, but I was still getting the same error message.
My next step was to call the URA hotline, where someone who did not even identify himself told me that the format of the TINs that I was using, which was alphanumeric, was outdated and could not be used any more. However, all my referees confirmed to me that their TINs were correct.
Incidentaly, Cell F:18 of the URA spreadsheet itself shows the format of the TIN as being alphanumeric! The URA customer service agent informed me that the new TINs, which are numeric, were introduced around October 2010, and that I should find someone with a TIN that follows that format!
What are the odds that you can find such a person when the new TINs have only been around for six months? If the URA wants to fully embrace e-services, then all the changes they make must be reflected in their online forms in a speedy manner. Having said that, all I want to do is pay my taxes and to do that I need a TIN!
Why on earth does one need a referee in order to be able to pay taxes? Who is more interested in the tax? Is it the taxpayer or the URA?
Name withheld
I started out by making a trip to the URA office at Crested Towers.
The officer I contacted told me that everything about TINs is done online. Nothing wrong with that.
I went online and began the laborious process of first downloading, and then filling out all the required fields in the Excel spreadsheet. All went well until I uploaded the file to the URA website.
Every time I uploaded the file, it returned with the message that my referee's TIN was not valid! As common sense dictates, I got three different referees, but I was still getting the same error message.
My next step was to call the URA hotline, where someone who did not even identify himself told me that the format of the TINs that I was using, which was alphanumeric, was outdated and could not be used any more. However, all my referees confirmed to me that their TINs were correct.
Incidentaly, Cell F:18 of the URA spreadsheet itself shows the format of the TIN as being alphanumeric! The URA customer service agent informed me that the new TINs, which are numeric, were introduced around October 2010, and that I should find someone with a TIN that follows that format!
What are the odds that you can find such a person when the new TINs have only been around for six months? If the URA wants to fully embrace e-services, then all the changes they make must be reflected in their online forms in a speedy manner. Having said that, all I want to do is pay my taxes and to do that I need a TIN!
Why on earth does one need a referee in order to be able to pay taxes? Who is more interested in the tax? Is it the taxpayer or the URA?
Name withheld