Rwanda Revenue Authority is targeting to collect Frw 18.6 billion in the Northern Province, an increase of 20 % compared to Frw 15.6 billion that was collected last year. The overall national target is Frw 1,369.4 billion for this fiscal year. This was revealed during the taxpayer’s appreciation day and Rwanda Revenue Authority’s (RRA) 20th anniversary in Gicumbi District/Northern Province. The Governor of the Northern Province, Jean Marie Vianney Gatabazi implored the business community to play their part in facilitating the revenue body by using electronic billing machines, adding that the taxes they contribute get back to them through increased infrastructure which plays a vital role in facilitating their business growth. “The overall development of your community is in your hands which means that the more taxes are paid the more roads, health facilities, modern markets are built. Therefore, it is everyone’s responsibility to report tax evaders, smugglers, which affect the collection services,” he said. Pascal Ruganintwari, RRA Deputy Commissioner General expressed his gratitude for increased positive attitude in tax compliance, which is witnessed from meeting targets set from grassroots to national level. “When we take a look at Frw 1,252.6 billion collected in last year’s fiscal year 2017/18, it was exceeding the target of Rwf1,215.2 billion. Also, this growth represented 13.5 per cent increase in comparison to the amount collected the previous fiscal year of 2016/7,” he said. “This shows that Rwandans increasingly understand their role in the development of the country, we ask them to continue in the right direction,” he added. On the other hand, tax payers in the Northern Province claimed that they are not getting enough training in terms of tax and revenue collection which led to many getting penalised for violation of taxation law due to ignorance. “Some of the business community are not compliant not because they just don’t want to but due to limited knowledge about new technologies used in taxation, especially the effective use of EBM. We need regular trainings to get accustomed to such technology,” Francois Nsengiyumva, the PSF representative in the Northern Province said. He also requested RRA to make in-depth analysis of taxes on Made in Rwanda commodities to make sure they are compliant with the regional taxation policies because the private sector have realized that some of the commodities fail to be competitive with others from other countries at the regional market due to high VAT. Referring to the inquiries made above, Ruganintwari argued that the RRA always strive to remove all barriers and together with the private sector federation, the issue mentioned of knowledge gaps will continue to be prioritized as more business people become tax literate, the more they become compliant. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
