Tax body restructures to boost capacity

The Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) has started streamlining its operations, a move that will see more workers brought on board to strengthen the tax body’s capacity and efficiency to improve service delivery, Seth Muhirwa, the RRA deputy commissioner in charge of human resources, has said. Muhirwa said the revenue body has already started a recruitment process to seek competent personnel in key areas, like risk management, corporate planning and training, to achieve this mission. RRA is now charged with collecting taxes that were hitherto being collected by local governments. “We want to fill the gaps left behind by employees who left the institution. We are also trying to tap into opportunities presented by information and communication technology (ICT) by automating all services and operations,” Muhirwa told Business Times in an exclusive interview on Friday. This will boost efficiency and ultimately help us deliver on our objectives, he said. Muhirwa said the tax body has about 850 employees, out of the 997 workers it requires to deliver on their mandate. The restructuring is, therefore, expected to fill the gaps so that the institution can be run at full capacity, he added. New department Muhirwa also revealed that RRA has established a new department of corporate risk management to deal with the institution’s overall operational risks. “The department will be mandated to advise management and deal with all operational risks,” he noted. He pointed out that risk management was previously handled as a function by different departments. RRA advertised 58 vacancies on Friday. They include managers for corporate planning, research and policy analysis, risk analysts and training experts, among others. Experts say the exercise could not have come at a more opportune time. David Baliraine, an associate director in charge of tax aervices at EY Rwanda, said besides creating jobs, the restructuring is important especially as it’s aiming at improving tax body’s efficiency. “By taking a holistic approach to fill gaps in the system among other things, they will be able to improve tax administration and reduce losses,” he argued. Targets The government projects to raise 62 per cent of Rwf1.75 trillion budgeted for this financial year domestically. The tax body targets to collect over Rwf906.8 billion this fiscal year. It is expected to collect about Rwf28 billion by the end of the fiscal year from taxes that were previously being collected by local authorities. During the July 2013-June 2014 period RRA collected Rwf769 billion against the set target of Rwf793.2 billion, reflecting a 15.9 per cent growth in revenue collection, and a 96.9 per cent performance rate. business@newtimes.co.rw

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Tax body restructures to boost capacity