Ruparelia Group Named Among Uganda’s Top 10 Compliant Tax Payers By URA
By Uganda Online
Kampala: Ruperalia Group of companies has been recognized and named among Uganda’s top taxpayers by the tax body Uganda Revenue Authority.
The top taxpayers were recognized on Friday during the annual Taxpayers Awards Ceremony at URA head offices in Nakawa, Kampala.
The ceremony which concluded a two-months Taxpayers Appreciation Season saw the recognition of compliant taxpayers across the country.
URA’s Commissioner General, Mr John Rujoki Musinguzi said that despite the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, they managed to perform well between July and November because of compliant taxpayers and among them is the Ruparelia Group which runs a chain of companies ranging from construction, tourism, hotels, insurance, education, banking, among others.
“One of the reasons why this is special is that as an organization it is a crowning moment for a series of events that we have been having to celebrate 30 years of existence. We started this season on the 15th of September at Kololo airstrip when we had a thanksgiving ceremony to celebrate the small and medium taxpayers across the country and extend a hand in a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) to a number of institutions. So, today marks the end of that season of celebration and appreciation of our valued partners in the journey of developing our nation,” Musinguzi said.
He said that URA is widening the tax base by adopting and deploying modern technology like artificial intelligence and data analytics to identify all potential sources of revenue.
Mr Musinguzi said that URA is instituting mechanisms through which all qualifying citizens and economic players will be able to make their fair contribution to the revenue basket and these are all within the ambit of the Domestic Resource Mobilization Strategy.
Speaking as Chief Guest, Finance Minister Matia Kasaija said through taxes, the government is able to build roads, hospitals, schools, security and finance on its own budget.
Currently, he said that Uganda finances only 50% of her budget, meaning that he has to borrow the remaining 50%.
As a result, he said the aim is now to increase the tax to GDP ratio from the current 13% to about 20%.
Other compliant taxpayers and partners who were awarded included; Davis & Shirtliff,
Housing Finance Bank, Citi Bank, and New Vision, Rootings ltd among others.
