The business community in Maracha District has called on Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to carry out constant tax education and organize sensitization workshops to aid them in understanding taxation.

Mawa John, the Chairperson of the Maracha Business Community, made the call as he interacted with the URA Tax Education Outreach team, which is carrying out a door-to-door tax sensitization program in the West Nile Region.

“We need constant education and sensitization workshops so that we fully understand what taxes are, why we need to pay them, and what the taxes do because people here think URA came to rob them,” said Mawa.

The chairperson revealed that URA has never held a taxation workshop with traders in Maracha district, and they only see a few URA officers once in about two years.

“I am calling for a serious engagement because we have never had any with URA. URA staff last came here in 2023, and many traders declined the assessments,” he revealed.

Mawa, however, appreciated URA for the Tujenge Bus team, which held door-to-door tax education engagements with traders, saying it’s a good start for people to learn about taxes.

Atiku Patrick, a private health unit proprietor in Maracha Town Council, reiterated the chairperson’s call.

“Organize a community tax sensitization workshop here because I have never seen one. People need to be sensitized about the different types of taxes before being assessed.”

The Tax Education Outreach team, in conjunction with the Arua DT team, on Wednesday carried out door-to-door tax education in Maracha Town Council.

According to Joshua Muwonge, the team lead, Maracha was selected because it’s a virgin area in terms of taxation.

“We want to identify potential taxpayers and add them to the tax register to grow the tax base,” Muwonge explained.

Muwonge tipped the business community on the presumptive tax schedule, highlighting the threshold.

“If your total sales in a financial year do not exceed UGX 150 million, you are a small business taxpayer and are required to pay presumptive tax according to what your total sales are. And if you earn less than UGX 10 million, you don’t pay tax,” he said.

Isaac Gyagenda the Ag. Supervisor Tax Education Outreach reminded the traders to keep detailed books of accounts to enable URA to assess the correct taxes.

By Kamugisha Kabahweza Allan