The Uganda Revenue Authority was recently recognized as the best exhibitor in the government agencies category at the recently concluded CBS PEWOSA trade fair.

The award was handed over by Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga, who commended the revenue body for their laborious efforts to teach and educate the business community, not just in the fair but the country at large. He asserted that the more people learn about their duties and responsibilities in regard to taxes and their role in national development, the more compliant they will be.

Early this year, the Commissioner General of the URA, John R. Musinguzi, paid a courtesy visit to the Katikkiro to discuss how voluntary compliance can impact revenue collection. Mayiga pledged the advancement of tax education towards their subjects and to help them remain and become compliant.

“Tax collection is a public good that requires the participation of everyone, and paying taxes is a responsibility that needs to be instilled in people from an early age,” Owek. Mayiga had this to say.

The CBS PEWOSA trade fair is an annual, 8-day event that brings together budding and established entrepreneurs and other small, medium, and large-scale investors. This year’s event happened at the Muteesa II stadium in Wankulukuku.

“The trade fair aims at looking out for support systems aimed at helping business startups to add value to their products. Through the interactions, we have discovered that small taxpayers have issues related to awareness. We need to inform on the processes and steps of registration, formalization, and compliance,” said Andrew Kyakonye, tax education officer in URA.

Kyakonye revealed that one of the most overriding concerns they addressed from the exhibitors was the operation and usage of the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS).

During the exhibition, it was also realized that URA needed to do more awareness on EFRIS among traders and customers.

By Dismas Nuwaine