Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) has issued a March 31 deadline for all artistes to have paid tax arrears for all their earnings from musical activities.

The artistes had been informed as early as 2013 to start paying taxes, a directive they never heeded, according to the tax agency officials.

In a meeting with about 30 artistes at the RRA headquarters in Kigali on Wednesday, the Deputy Commissioner for the Legal Department at RRA, Charles Kagame, told the artistes that the tax body will not impose any fines on them, despite them having failed to pay on time.

However, he said each artiste will be required to make a self-assessment in regard to when they started earning from the industry in order to clear all arrears by March 31.

The artistes will be paying 15 per cent from their profits in the music activities as Pay As You Earn (PAYE).

Companies that organise concerts, be it for local artistes or foreign ones, must also remit the 15 per cent before the show.

Jeanne Uwigoroye, an RRA official, told the artistes in the meeting that paying tax is the principal way of building a nation.

"Without you paying taxes, your country would not develop and your musical activities would not have value,” she said.

Singer Thomas Muyombo, better known as Tom Close, told Saturday Times that artistes will be paying taxes because they know their value.

"Previously, we did not pay taxes because we didn’t know the process of paying it. But we will now be paying because we know its value,” Tom Close said.

Knowless, an RnB singer, also promised that the artistes will put in more effort in paying taxes since they all know how important it is.

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