Have you ever faced difficulty in deregistering a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) for a business you want to close?
TIN Deregistration is important because it informs Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) that you have closed your business and thus you are no longer obliged to fulfil taxpayer’s obligations.
The process becomes effective when RRA is satisfied that the taxpayer is not operating at a level that makes them liable to a particular tax. That is why it requires some steps to verify whether the business is no longer working or never even worked at all.
In an interview with The New Times, Jean Paulin Uwitonze, RRA’s Assistant Commissioner in charge of Taxpayers Service and Communication Division, said they have received feedback from people who were finding it hard to deregister. He noted that RRA has started a campaign to sensitise them not only about how it is done, but also its importance.
"We have had many taxpayers trying to close their TINs but didn’t know how the process goes. They asked us to share more information on the process. So we have started this initiative of informing the taxpayers about the process of deregistration of their TINs,” he said.
How TIN de-registration is done:
A taxpayer can access a deregistration form on www.rra.gov.rw . You should download it, fill it and sign it. Then, navigate the website and look for the option of "Pay Domestic Tax.” Select the option and then feed in your TIN and password. This is part of making sure that you have declared and paid all the required taxes.
After this, navigate the website and find where it is written "Online Request.” Click this option, and when it has opened, select "Deregistration Request.” In a few words, write the reason that is making you deregister your TIN, then upload your deregistration form and click "Submit.”
Uwitonze told The New Times that RRA is urging all people who have TINs that are not in operation to embark on the process of closing them.
"There are some people that never used their TINs at all, while some used them but later stopped because their businesses were no longer operating. They should deregister those TINs. If they have any tax arrears that they need to settle before deregistration, yet they don’t have the means to pay them currently, they should approach us and ask for the option of paying in instalments,” he noted.
Walter Rubegasa, the Spokesperson of the Private Sector Federation (PSF), said the issues of difficulty in TIN closure were mostly affecting young business people who often work online. These, for example, would not find it easy to go to the sector administration offices to get documentation that shows that their business never operated. This is one of the requirements for which RRA asks in case your business did not get to operate at all.
Rubegasa recognised that RRA has assisted many youths in the process of closing their TINs, and sensitising them on how it is done.
"So far, RRA has worked with more than 700 youths and has assisted them to close their TINs. It was hard for some because they did not know the steps involved,” he noted.