The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) staff who live lavish lifestyles stand to be investigated as the agency pushes for increased tax revenue collections to beat the Shs15.06 trillion target for the current fiscal year, Commissioner General Doris Akol has warned.
Ms Akol’s warning comes at the time when the latest tax revenue performance report shows that the agency made a deficit in first quarter of financial year 2017/18, collecting Shs3, 147.07 billion against target of Shs 3,279.09 billion.
She says the measure to investigate staff as part of the integrity drive aimed at fighting corruption at URA.
“In the drive to fight corruption, we plan to conduct lifestyle audits on our staff to identify staff living an extravagant lifestyle,” she warns.
According to Ms Akol, some of the staff may be potentially engaged in illegal activities that are ‘soiling’ the integrity and image of the organization.
“I call upon the public to report to us staff that are requesting for bribes while executing their duties,” she said, stating that integrity is one of the core values that staff at URA are supposed to uphold.
“Our staff is expected to act ethically and professional at all times,” she added.
THE URA CG said the measure will help the agency collect tax revenue that could have been lost in case some staff got involved in corruption.
Meanwhile, Ms. Akol said URA carried out investigations to verify the accuracy of declarations by taxpayers between July and September, yielding Shs 21.5 billion in tax revenue. “Areas targeted included fictitious input VAT claims, mis-invoicing, and under declaration of sales,” Ms. Akol said.
She disclosed that URA prosecuted the 63 hard core tax offenders, with the Debt Collection Unit recovering tax deficits of Shs19.85 billion.
In fiscal year 2017/18, URA was given a net revenue target of Shs 15,062.43 billion,
which is Shs1,885.28 billion over and above last year’s target.
And according to Ms Akol, interventions such as continued expansion of tax base, integrity drives, accountability campaigns, improved filing ratios, audit efficiency, customs enforcement and tax investigation among others will help URA achieve the target, notwithstanding the economic challenges.
