Formed 1991 Employees 2,900+ (2015) | Jurisdiction Government of Uganda | |
Headquarters Nakawa, Kampala, Uganda Agency executives Chairman,
Gerald Ssendaula
Commissioner general,
Doris Akol Parent agency Uganda Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development | ||
The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) is a government revenue collection agency established by the Parliament of Uganda. The URA is responsible for enforcing, assessing, collecting, and accounting for the various taxes imposed in Uganda.
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Locations
URA's headquarters is located in the URA Building Complex, located at M193-M194, Kinnawataka Road, Nakawa Industrial Area in the Nakawa Division of the city of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. This is about 6 kilometres (4 mi), by road, east of the city center. The coordinates of the agency's headquarters are 0°19'45.0"N, 32°37'11.0"E (Latitude:0.329167; Longitude:32.619722).
History
Allen Kagina was charged with eliminating corruption in the URA when she was appointed commissioner general in 2004. Minister of Information Rose Namayanja said, "Under the leadership of Ms Allen Kagina, we have successfully cleaned URA and tax collections on a year-to-year basis have gone up. The situation is not as bad as it used to be." According to the Daily Monitor, this view was shared by the president of Uganda.
Overview
In 1991, when URA was established, tax collection was 6.83 percent of GDP, amounting to UGX:133 billion. In 2015, taxes collected were 12.78 percent of GDP, amounting to UGX:11.2 trillion. URA targets to increase tax collection to at least 16.0 percent of GDP by 2020.
Administration
On 27 October 2014, Ugandan Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka appointed lawyer Doris Akol as commissioner general for the next five years. She replaced Kagina, who retired after two consecutive five-year terms at the helm of the URA.
To accommodate the majority of its staff in one location, URA is building a 22-storey tower adjacent to its headquarters at Nakawa, scheduled for completion in 2018.