URA misses its sales projections for the first quarter.

Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) missed its target by 499.49 billion shillings in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021/22.

The tax body managed to collect 4.459 trillion shillings out of the 4.959 trillion shillings target set by the government. However, this represents a revenue collection increase of 389.7 billion shillings over the same time in 2020/21.

URA has been charged by the government to collect 22.363.52 trillion shillings in income in the financial year 2021/22, which is more than previous year’s total.

According to John Musinguzi, the URA commissioner general, the government’s persistent limitations on specific industries have harmed the supply chain, disrupting markets such as restaurants, hotels, and events venues.

In comparison to the previous fiscal year, revenue collection in a number of industries decreased. Construction revenue fell 15.95 percent, real estate revenue down 4.67 percent, and revenue from the power, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply industry fell 17.31 percent.”

Domestic tax performance has also been impacted by the restrictions, according to the commissioner general, with numerous deficits such as VAT of 223.64 billion shillings, local excise duty of 77.27 billion shillings, cooperative tax of 24.74 billion shillings, and rental income tax of 19.49 billion shillings.

Petroleum duty 43.34 billion shillings, import duty 68.27 billion shillings, and withholding tax 135.80 billion shillings were among the deficiencies in international trade tax collection.

In terms of foreign tax performance, the country saw a 30.39 million liter drop in imported fuel volumes compared to the same period last fiscal year.

Petrol was down 24.49 million liters, diesel was down 5.24 million liters, and kerosene was down 0.73 million liters.

In addition to the foregoing, tax revenue from imports fell by 8.655 billion shillings compared to the same period the previous financial year.

Motor cars fell by 345.36 billion shillings, palm oil fell by 224.94 billion shillings, wheat/meslin fell by 148.45 billion shillings, petroleum oils fell by 113.46 billion shillings, and electrical apparatus fell by 116.07 billion shillings, according to the Uganda Revenue Authority.

During the same time period, the tax authority managed to register 65,666 new tax payers, bringing the total number of taxpayers to 1,849,159.

The URA customs enforcement division recovered 22.38 billion shillings from 2,161 seizures over the same time period. The 38 cases yielded a total of 24.28 billion shillings, according to the investigations.

Despite missing the target, the commissioner general is certain that the authority will collect the remaining 17,404,25 trillion by the end of the fiscal year, beginning with the 6,104.64 trillion for the second quarter.

URA outlined its strategies for achieving the goal, which include using alternative dispute resolution to resolve tax disputes with taxpayers amicably, strengthening the implementation of digital tax stamps and electronic fiscal devices to increase effectiveness and efficiency, and ensuring the effective and efficient implementation of the Domestic Resource Mobilization Strategy.