URA breaks 4-year jinx to post sh24.3b surplus

Jan 26, 2015

The Uganda Revenue Authority posted a sh24.3b tax collection surplus between July and December 2014, for the first time in more than four years, credited to strict tax controls and administration.

By Edward Kayiwa

The Uganda Revenue Authority posted a sh24.3b tax collection surplus between July and December 2014, for the first time in more than four years, credited to strict tax controls and administration.


The authority collected sh4.568b against a target of sh4.544b at the end of December 2014, giving confidence to the tax collector that it would hit its target for this financial year.

“We enhanced monitoring and enforcement on defaulters between July and December, and registered improvement in domestic and international trade taxes,” the commissioner general, Doris Akol announced on Thursday.

“The first half year performance registered a growth of 12.21%. Overall domestic taxes performed at 100.48%, while international trade taxes performed at 100.01% which is bright and encouraging,” she added.

Akol said this while addressing journalists following a tour of Kikuubo, Kampala’s wholesale trade hub.

However, the poor performance of the Uganda shilling against the dollar caused a revenue loss of sh18.14b from international trade taxes.

The shilling has been losing ground since July 2014, when it traded at sh2,609 and sh2,619 against the dollar.

It has since continued to depreciate by 10%, trading at sh2,891 and sh2,900 respectively against the dollar, and has partly contributed to a downfall in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“GDP slumped to 5.25% against the expected growth of 6.2%, and this directly affected export. The low exports have in turn affected collection of excise duty and that also explains why a deficit was registered under VAT for the same period,” she explained.

She added that the strategies which were implemented have so far yielded improvements in international non trade tax revenue collections, and are expected to continue doing well.

Reading from the URA half year brief, Akol said casino tax also registered growth of 47.57% collecting additional revenue of sh2.24b compared to the same period last year.

This, she attributed to tax education and strict monitoring of key players in the sector.

She pointed out that excise duty on mobile money, sugar and international calls performed above target at sh4.7b.

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