Kampala, Uganda: Uganda Revenue Authority has announced having collected a total of Shs 10,163.09 Billion in the first half of the financial year 2021/2022, UGX 900.81 Billion short of the targeted Shs 11,063.90 Brillion.
This was announced today during the URA first press conference in 2022 that was held at virtually.
UGX 10 Trillion Collection represents 45% of the annual target that was set by the Ministry of Finance given to URA to collect UGX 22,363.51 billion needed to finance government activities.
Whole sale and retail trade sector contributed 29.42% of the collected revenue, followed by Manufacturing sector with 23.42%, financial activity sector 10%, Information and communications sector 8.55% while public administration contributed 3.75%. These top five sectors accounted for 75% of total revenue collected in 6 months.
Revenue from financial activities increased in comparison to 2020/2021 figures which URA attributes to separation of Mobile Money services from telecommunication companies in addition to the streamlining of national payment systems by Bank of Uganda.
Information and Communications sector, Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector, Real Estate activities and Construction sector however saw a sharp decline in comparison to 2020/2021 figures, falling by 14.55%, 37.79%, 10.78% and 14.06% respectively.
Uganda Revenue Authority has put in place attempts to increase revenue generation in the next 6 months to cover the deficit made in the first 6 months so as to achieve the target of 14.99 GDP tax ratio.
Among the measures announced is the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) which is meant to peacefully without court process resolve complaints from tax payers about levied taxes. URA will also strengthen use of smart mechanisms like Digital Stamps and Electronic Fiscal devices.
Enhancing URA client support, increasing tax education, setting up of mobile tax offices and simplifying the key processes are also some of the measures put in place to see URA generate UGX 12.328 Trillion in next half of the financial year.
