URA expands DTS sensitization campaign to curb tax evasion
DTS, URA officials and other participants pose for a photo during the DTS campaign in Kasese
What you need to know:
- The URA Team headed by Samuel Emeru Ebyau from the Domestic Taxes Department took traders through the DTS App and urged them to share the knowledge they have acquired with fellow business people that were unable to attend the training.
SICPA Uganda, a global leader in authentication, identification, and secure traceability, has offered training support to Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) officials, and Tax Inspectors as part of a long-term synergy which has also seen the taxman commence sensitisation clinics on Digital Tax Stamps (DTS) across the country.
The two-way support drive is aimed at strengthening tax compliance and monitoring in the country.
Accordingly, SICPA a DTS solution provider to URA facilitated at least 63 tax inspectors and offered 240 DTS enforcement gadgets for use in the process.
On their side, URA also commenced a larger initiative to curb fraudulent DTS practices, kick starting sensitisation clinics across the country in which traders in Western, Central and Eastern Uganda have already been engaged.
On Thursday, URA conducted a DTS sensitization campaign in the Eastern region towns of Busia and Tororo. The training geared at educating traders on how to install and use the KAKASA DTS App attracted a cross section of traders.
The URA Team headed by Samuel Emeru Ebyau from the Domestic Taxes Department took traders through the DTS App and urged them to share the knowledge they have acquired with fellow business people that were unable to attend the training.
Traders were informed that Digital Tax Stamps were introduced in 2019 as a solution that helps in the collection of Local Excise Duty on several gazetted products. These labels not only authenticate the product, but also enable URA to track taxes from gazetted excisable goods while Uganda National Bureau of Standards uses the same stamps to ascertain product conformity to standards.
Mr Emeru informed the taxpayers that when a product is found in the dealer’s shop or stock and it has no stamp, it is considered illegal or smuggled because the supplier and retailer would have flouted the process by selling unstamped goods.
“Unstamped gazette products are not allowed on the market and non-adherence to this attracts a penalty of Shs50 million. Taxpayers should avoid dealing in unstamped products so that their businesses are not disrupted,” he cautioned. You must first generate a PRN, make the payment and then collect the stamps, then apply them to the product you deal in. Also note that stamps are picked by the authorized person from SICPA (U) office,” Emeru advised.
Furthermore, Wilson Katumba, Busia Station Head urged traders to ensure that they only buy stamped products from their respective suppliers or manufacturers.
“Your role as a trader is to engage the manufacturer and tell him to apply the Ugandan Digital Tax Stamps on the products at the different designated application points along their value chain,” Katumba added.
SICPA Uganda and URA continue to work closely to foster better tax compliance and ensure that businesses across Uganda adhere to tax and safety standards.
