Tax declaration, payment go mobile

Rwanda Revenue Authority has launched a mobile telephone facility that will aid taxpayers with an annual turnover of between Rwf12 million andRwf50 million to declare and pay their taxes using mobile phones.

Tuesday, October 08, 2013
With M-declaration, which was launched last week during the Taxpayeru2019s Day celebrations in Nyagatare District, tax payers declare and pay their taxes using mobile phones. The ....

Rwanda Revenue Authority has launched a mobile telephone facility that will aid taxpayers with an annual turnover of between Rwf12 million andRwf50 million to declare and pay their taxes using mobile phones.M-declaration was launched last week during the Taxpayer’s Day celebrations in Nyagatare District, Eastern Province by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Claver Gatete.While unveiling the online facility, Gatete urged taxpayers to embrace easy and cost effective facilities in paying taxes as they will save time and money spent while declaring and paying taxes.He advised RRA to continue introducing new facilities that will help taxpayers to easily pay taxes in a hustle free environment as this will increase compliance and domestic investment in the country.Other facilities The mobile phone application was unveiled together with other online facilities such as online non-fiscal payment, Electronic Billing Machines and RRA service charterThe online facilities are meant to enormously transform Rwandan business environment by reducing the time taken by taxpayers to declare and pay taxes, and save them from queuing while waiting to pay taxes at RRA offices and banks. It is also expected to help further widen the tax base and reach some taxpayers who still slip through the tax net by introducing easy and cheap processes of paying taxes.With M-declaration, payment is enabled via any of the mobile money platforms, including MTN-Mobile money, Tigo Cash or Airtel Money.Ben Bahizi Kagarama, the RRA Commissioner General, said they have put in place different initiatives to ease the process of paying taxes, especially through embracing technology."We continue to do our best to modernise taxpaying system. It should be friendly to taxpayers.  The aim is to make the process as easy as it possibly can get,”he said.M-declaration facility was financed by the International Finance Corporation, a World Bank arm that has been supporting RRA in introducing facilities that enables Small and Medium Enterprises to declare and pay taxes more easily than ever.