EAC revenue officials meet over regional tax issues

Officials brainstorm on how to effectively audit the petroleum industry HUYE- Sub-committees of East Africa’s revenue regulatory institutions are meeting at the Rwanda Revenue Authority Training Institute to discuss customs, domestic tax and human resource issues. The two day meeting that started Wednesday is expected to provide a platform for information and experience sharing on pertinent issues related to tax in the region. “We want to forge a common understanding of the challenges we face as a region and also to learn from the best practices in the different tax bodies in the region,” said Lillian Rugambwa, the Principal of the training institute. The officials will meet in three sub-committees in which they will discuss customs, domestic tax and human resource issues in the different revenue bodies and make recommendations. “In the human resource sub-committee, issues to be tackled include staff turnover in our tax bodies. We intend to look at the causes and design appropriate staff motivation and retention strategies,” said Rugambwa from Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA). The sub-committee will also brainstorm on capacity building in auditing of the petroleum industry and carry out training needs analysis. According to Zephaniah Muhigi, sitting on the customs sub-committee, progress reports will be made on approved directives from commissioner generals of the different tax bodies in the region. “We will collectively look at new measures to counter smuggling in the region. Members will bring out particular cases of smuggling which will be studied and measures taken to address them,” said Muhigi, the head of field operations at RRA. Rwanda being landlocked relies on the ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa for its trade activities. “We will hold discussions on the implementation of the Revenue Authority Data Digital exchange (RADDEx),” said Muhigi. According to the official, the RADDEx enables the sharing of information in advance on consignments in transit. All the East African Countries apart from Burundi and Tanzania have computerised their customs operations. Kenya uses the Simba 2005 system while Uganda and Rwanda use the ASYCUDA++. According to Muhigi, the programme which was approved by commissioner generals of tax bodies in the region helps to speed up customs operations. “We are able to know about the impending arrival of goods through the use of this software. This helps in timely preparation of relevant documents therefore saving time,” said Muhigi. A pilot study of the effectiveness of system is being held in Kenya while Rwanda has started procurement of such equipment with a grant from the World Bank. The sub-committees which meet on a bi-annual basis will make an evaluation of the existing systems. Limitations and recommendations will be forwarded to the technical committee and eventually to the commissioner generals for endorsement. Ends

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EAC revenue officials meet over regional tax issues