By Immaculate Wanyenze
On Wednesday, Uganda Revenue Authority commemorated 10 years of the Authorized Economic Operator Program at Sheraton Kampala hotel. The program was launched in 2013 to allow compliant companies enjoy fast clearance of their goods through simplified procedures and reduced inspection.
Indeed, from some of the testimonies shared by the pioneers of the program, the benefits are still vivid. Betty Kiguli, the Procurement Specialist from Mulwana Group explained that self-management is a key benefit they are proud of because they are able to have timely clearance of their goods. The Mulwana group company, she explained has also gained some leverage in time saved owing to delays in clearing goods at customs.
“Our goods come from Mombasa to our bonded warehouses and we are able to get them and take them to the manufacturing line, I can say we have enjoyed more successes than challenges,” Kiguli emphasized.
Kiguli ‘s remarks were not different from Anna Nambooze, the Country Director of Trade Mark Africa Anna who praised URA for the remarkable journey as pioneers of the AEO program.
“We are now working on having an enterprise risk management system that is being piloted and will be celebrating soon, so as Trade Mark Africa we are proud of URA ‘s progress,” she said.
The Ag. Commissioner General Sarah Chelangat, on the other hand recognized the AEOs for their continued compliance towards revenue collection. Reason: Nowadays, for one to qualify as AEO, they must pass all URA compliance checks of Domestic taxes and Customs taxes.
“You matter in the tax administration equation, you make us proud, you are our strategic partners and you are exceptional clients. AEO is a win-win for us and has allowed us optimize our resources and focus on the high risk areas while providing faster and smoother clearance for low risk operators,” she explained.
She also urged the AEOs to guard their status by filing on time and paying their due tax in the correct amounts.
In addition, Abel Kagumire, the Commissioner Customs emphasized that URA has been able to collect revenue from130 National AEOs who are responsible for about 40% of the value of international trade operations, amounting to UGX1.7 trillion and accounting for 24% of Customs tax revenue.
“We don’t have to run after you[AEOs], you file on time. At the time we started the revenue was only 4% in 2013.When we grow the numbers, we expect more revenue, he said.
He also revealed that the recognition by the World Customs Organization in 2018 gave URA the right to win the image of a country which is willing to open up and serve.Through this, URA has hosted a number of counties inform of benchmarks to include; Zambia, Malawi, Nigeria among others.
An AEO is a company or individual highly trusted by the revenue body – that even with less surveillance, such a company is expected to assess itself and willfully pay taxes. At the border points, customs officials are not obliged to over-scrutinise goods of such a company.
AEO is also a regional trade facilitation programme recommended by the World Customs Organization (WCO) to ease trade and customs clearance for tax-compliant importers and exporters. To be accredited as an AEO, a company applies to URA and is subjected to rigorous checks – audits of its income returns and tax returns.
