By Joshua Niyonshima
In a bid to foster tax compliance and promote road user efficiency, the Uganda Revenue Authority has partnered with the Ministry of Works and Transport and the Uganda Police to sensitize players in the transport sector on advance income tax, motor vehicle registration and road safety.
Advance income tax is an annual tax paid by passenger service vehicles and goods or freight vehicles. Vehicle owners are required to pay an advance income tax for each vehicle.
During the engagement with Tororo residents at the Rock Hotel, Rukundo Amon, the in-charge of the Tororo Domestic Taxes Office emphasized the need for all transporters to acquire Tax Identification Numbers(TINs) to avoid any inconveniences.
“It is essential to note that an individual is entitled to one TIN. In case you have a TIN for each motorcycle or vehicle, please come and we will merge those TINs into one. Let us try to obey the law,” Rukundo noted.
Amula Albert, the Deputy Resident District Commissioner of Tororo District, called on the residents to comply with paying taxes, emphasizing the need for service delivery.
“There is no way the government is going to provide services without people paying taxes. On the tax register, we have 4 million taxpayers. When you look at businesses making money, they are around 7 million, so why can’t we pay our fair share of tax?” he said.
In his remarks, Abigaba Bonaventure, a Process Officer at the Ministry of Works, reminded the transporters to access motor vehicle registration, transfer of ownership, and related services at the Ministry.
“We are doing this as a business enabler and helping the government mobilize revenue,” he added.
As URA embarks on collecting over Ugx 29 trillion this financial year, taxpayer education has been earmarked as one of the strategies for achieving voluntary compliance. This is being done on a sectoral basis.
In addition to Tororo, a similar engagement was held with transporters in Mityana.
