By Irene Kabakama
Last Friday, representatives of the Urban Smart Traders Association (USTA) met URA Commissioner General John Musinguzi, where they discussed the growing online trade and how Uganda can effectively benefit from it through taxes.
The team was led by Kaboggoza Nsamu Badru, the Chairman of USTA and Dr. Hillary Emmanuel Musoke Kisanja, the Private Secretary to the President for Youth who revealed that they have developed an online marketplace called “pearlug.com” that will be operating in 14 African markets and the United Arab Emirates.
They sought a partnership in promoting and establishing the site, noting that Uganda could benefit through taxes from trade conducted on the site.
Kaboggoza disclosed that they are organizing a digital trade conference to enroll merchants on the platform and sensitize youth on how to utilise the internet to generate sustainable income and employment. He invited URA to participate and provide tax identification numbers to the subscribing merchants.
Musinguzi applauded the idea, saying it would provide an inroad to taxing online businesses. He tasked the team to devise means of collecting VAT from the site users and remitting it to URA.
He also requested for time to understand their business processes to support them better.
