By Irene Kabakama
John Musinguzi, the Commissioner General has called upon Ugandans in the gaming and betting sector to embrace compliance and pay their fair share of taxes.
According to Musinguzi, despite the significant collections from the sector totaling UGX 150 billion in the last financial year, most players are non-compliant.
“Let us embrace voluntary compliance, automation, and transparency so that everybody pays their fair share of taxes. I appreciate the advancement of technology by the National Gaming and Lotteries platform and I urge you to embrace this platform so that we can declare what we are earning,” he said.
Musinguzi made this call during an engagement with gaming operators at the URA offices recently. He encouraged them to utilize avenues like voluntary disclosure and automatic exchange of information which guides URA in monitoring financial flows.
“I appeal to you to support us in the new direction we are taking because even when you bribe, the truth will come out. We are working on our brand, and I challenge you to work on yours,” he said.
In his remarks, Denis Mudene Ngabirano, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board, called for more engagements to bridge the information gap.
“Let us embrace the National Central Electronic Monitoring System for revenue transparency and other responsible modules. The gaming sector is committed to ensuring compliance, but let’s have more engagements because it’s through such platforms that we get to learn more,” he said.
As a way of improving taxpayer compliance, URA has earmarked stakeholder engagement as one of the measures to be employed this financial year.
These are being implemented alongside other strategies such as strengthening tax administration, providing extensive education, enhancing the use of data analytics and risk management.
