Uganda Revenue Authority Calls Taxpayers To Embrace Online Services.

Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has issued a public notice that informs about the institution’s continual of operations even amidst this lockdown which has sunk down most of the sectors.

This will be made possible with a number of measures that URA has put in place which aim at aiding taxpayers and facilitating trade during this second lockdown period.

Important to note is that these measures have been streamlined to fall in line with the Presidential directives put up to reduce further spread of the Coronavirus and adherence to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by the Ministry of Health.

Taxpayers are thus encouraged to use URA’s online services to mitigate exposure to the Coronavirus. However, other services which cannot be accessed online will still be executed as has been the norm.

“We urge taxpayers who have not yet filed their returns to do so and pay the due taxes before the deadline of June 30, 2021. URA staff are ready to support the taxpayers in meeting this deadline,” excerpts from the notice read.

The notice also indicates that all Customs warehouses will remain functional to facilitate the clearance of cargo subject to the Customs guidelines. Plus, all Customs border stations and the URA regional offices in Kenya and Tanzania shall remain open to facilitate the movement of cargo subject to the Customs laws and guidelines.

URA advises the public to use the online payment options and to reach the institution through their improved contact centre whose offering has been upgraded with the rollout of the state of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology.

The call center that was launched a few days ago not only simplifies tax compliance and reliability but also covers tax education inquiries and a stringent measure in lessening exposure to COVID-19.

The call centre has multiple language options with English and Luganda already available during the pilot phase and more languages awaiting addition. The contact centre’s service hours have been extended to run from 7AM to 11PM Monday to Friday and from 9AM to 9PM on Weekends and public holidays.