By Joshua Niyonshima
Accounting officers from various districts in South Western Uganda have received training from the Uganda Revenue Authority on how to navigate its revamped website.
Participants included Chief Accounting Officers (CAOs), Chief Finance Officers (CFOs), Accountants, Account Assistants, Human Resource Officers, Procurement Officers of Districts, Town Clerks, and Sub-County Chiefs. These were trained on how to utilize the portal to make tax payments, reconcile and correct ledgers among others.
“Unlike payments processed through commercial banks that are instantly reconciled to their respective periods on a particular ledger, payments processed through the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) and Bank of Uganda via the auto receipting function require adjusting the period before they are rightly posted onto the entity’s tax ledger for a particular period,” explained Marion Lubowa the Supervisor in charge of revenue reconciliation under the Public Sector Office in one of the sessions.
“This calls for the different entities to spare some time and correct the PRNs of different payments by adjusting the tax heads, periods, and beneficiaries to arrive at the right tax position of the entity,” she added.
The redesigned website offers improved navigation for several key services, including ledger reconciliation, payment correction, refunds, return filing, TIN acquisition and profile amendment, tax computation, tax payment, and a live chat button for feedback.
Speaking to the trainees, Mr. Kyambadde Robert, the CFO Kyotera district, urged the participants to maintain an amicable working relationship with URA.
“Embrace the new changes on the URA portal, work diligently to produce good results, and do not fear URA because we are partners in Uganda’s development,” he stated.
In addition to Kyotera, the local governments of Butambala, Mpigi, Masaka, Gomba, Lyantonde, Sembabule, Masaka City and the Regional referral Hospital have benefited from similar engagements.
URA has adopted a sector-based approach to stakeholder engagement to increase citizens’ understanding of taxes and achieve voluntary taxpayer compliance.
