MASAKA: The country’s tax body Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has launched the Mpa e-receipt yange campaign in Masaka region to promote the issuance of electronic receipts and invoices and also promote a culture of tracking one’s spending and verifying the indirect taxes paid upon making purchases.
The e-receipt campaign was launched on Monday July 24th 2023, in Masaka city with a grand promotion where lucky participants won prizes including smartphones, bags, sound devices and a Bodaboda.
Robert Katongole a plumber working at certain hardware in Masaka town walked away with a brand new Bodaboda which he won after participating in the Mpa e-receipt yange campaign by submitting a receipt number on the e-receipt he demanded from Muto hardware in Masaka.
The Mpa E-receipt Yange campaign is running under the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution, a solution that is intended to support value-added tax (VAT) registered taxpayers
During the launch, Mr. Mbuga Umar the Masaka region URA Station manager said the e-receipt campaign is designed to revolutionize the tax ecosystem by promoting the use of electronic receipts in business transactions, nurturing a culture of issuance of receipts by business owners through the adoption of Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS) – which in the long term will reduce and eliminate tax evasion.
“The new development is part of Government’s effort towards self-sustenance and will also help businesses improve on their record keeping because the receipts will give an actual picture on the volumes of goods and services sold to the consumers.” Umar Mbuga said
EFRIS is a new smart business solution that is used to record business transactions and share information with URA in real-time. It involves the use of e-Invoicing through the URA web portal and direct communication with business transaction systems (system-to-system connection), electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs), and Electronic Dispenser Controllers (EDCs) to manage the issuance of e-receipts and e-invoices.
The Mpa E-Receipt Yange campaign has been activated in the districts of Hoima, Arua, Gulu, Lira, Mbale, Jinja, Masaka, Fortportal, and it now continues to Mbarara and Kampala
Participants can also download a “Mpa E-receipt Yange” app on the Play Store and Appstore, and register to participate.
Recently during the official unveiling of the Mpa e-receipt campaign in Kampala, URA Commissioner General Mr. John Musinguzi, said the campaign is about cultivating a culture of accountability and a culture of record keeping which are two important ingredients for any economy to succeed and for any economy to develop.
“We need to have accurate records for us to know the growth of our businesses and consumers to know what we are spending and for what, as you know record keeping hasn’t been part of our culture in Uganda.” Musinguzi noted.
Mr. Musinguzi called upon all final consumers to always demand their e-receipts which inform them of their fair share of taxes contributed to the national confers and the more receipts uploaded on the portal the more chances one has to win.
According to the tax body, since the launch of EFRIS, there is a significant increase in VAT collection and that the figures can to rise 100 per cent if each one of the Ugandans embraces the e-receipt campaign.
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