By Joshua Niyonshima
DFCU Bank has opened its doors for a URA-One Stop Center strategically located at the DFCU Kampala Road Branch.
The center will provide a range of services to taxpayers, including e-tax assessments for land transfers, passports, stamp duty, driving permits, work permits, company registrations, and all other services offered by URA.
Speaking at the grand opening ceremony early this week, the Assistant Commissioner of Finance at URA, Diana Kisaka appreciated DFCU for granting the tax body opportunity to serve her clients better and expressed hope that the partnership would spread to other branches.
“As URA, our mandate grows day by day in our core business of tax and non-tax revenue. In our business, we struggle a lot with the informal sector. Those people who are not banked are those who are not formalized to do business. We know that a lot of money gets generated at the grass roots. And so, I am happy that one of the motives of DFU Bank is to reach out to the common man. This will tie into our vision as an organization,” Kisaka said.
She further expressed a need to transform all Ugandans. “URA’s vision is to be a transformational revenue service for Uganda’s economic independence; final independence starts at the household level. We want that financial independence to be felt. If we can manage to transform the last person, then our economy will be much better and the future will be much brighter for all of us.”
Robert Wanok, the head of personal and business banking at DFCU Bank, applauded URA for its improvement in tax education outreach across the country.
“I must commend URA; your tax drives have gone to a big level. Yesterday, I was listening to a talk show where URA participated, and they were explaining that businesses that have not made profits cannot pay tax. Many people think that URA is going to collect on every single coin they have made, and that is a misconception. As a country, people won’t fully default on taxes. I think one of the issues is that very few people understand tax,” he said.
He encouraged record-keeping as a tool for business growth. “Our people don’t keep records, and that’s one of the struggles that we face. Tax compliance means that you are also credit-worthy. So, a person who has mastered record-keeping and tax will walk into the bank and make a decision within five minutes. The same decision can take 20 days for a person who doesn’t keep records,” noted Wanok.
