RRA urged to be friendly when conducting tax audits

Taxpayers have expressed concern over the way the revenue body conducts tax audits. The taxpayers say Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) auditors most times conduct tax auidits as if they are carrying out tax investigations. The taxpayers expressed this concern was during a training on managing tax audits and investigations organised by PricewaterhouseCoopers Tax Academy at Hotel des Milles Collines in Kigali on Friday. However, Paul Frobisher Mugambwa, a tax expert at PricewaterhouseCoopers Rwanda, said tax audits are better done in a cordial atmosphere. He explained that while tax audits are a random routine that isn’t driven by any suspicion, a tax investigation aims at gathering information to use in prosecution. “Therefore, tax auditing should be done in friendly way, where taxpayers can also learn more about tax issues from RRA auditors,” he said. He added that a cordial working relationship between RRA and taxpayers benefits either party. Jossy Basiime, the finance and administration manager at Gisovu Tea Company, noted that sometimes one makes mistakes unknowingly, saying if RRA auditors are friendly, “they can give us advice on how to do things better or tell us about the new development in the law”. “Some people don’t know that they are not supposed to reclaim value added tax on purchase of fixed assets like cars, but instead can get some exemptions. Such advice can only be communicated when there is good relationship between the taxpayer and RRA auditor.” The monthly training conducted by the PwC Tax Academy targets financial, procurement and human resources managers and executive officers.