URA braces for peer review of its tax and financial information

Uganda is preparing for an upcoming peer review of its tax and financial information protection and exchange practices, aimed at enhancing its international financial integrity reputation.

This review will be conducted by experts from the Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information, marking the second such review since 2015 when Uganda joined the forum.

John Musinguzi, the Commissioner General of Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), emphasized that this exercise is part of strategic initiatives to remove Uganda from the transactional grey list, signifying a dedicated effort to promote international financial integrity.

“This review will demonstrate Uganda’s readiness to join a group of 168 countries that freely share tax and financial information. This sharing of information will enable the authority to access accurate data concerning multinational and cross-border investigations,” he noted.

He further explained that since 2014, the authority has handled up to 236 information requests and collected 256 billion shillings as a result of Global Forum interventions.

Following the 2015 review, Uganda received a “largely compliant” rating, the second-highest rating in that review.

Musinguzi emphasized that this time, Uganda aims to improve its rating since the current one comes with substantial costs.

“Non-compliance could lead to consequences such as blacklisting, increased business costs, supply chain delays, and more. Uganda has made progress based on the recommendations of the 2015 review,” he said.

Moses Kagwa, the Director for Economic Monitoring in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, called on all government agencies to cooperate and support URA in this review.

He stressed that the rating impacts not only URA but the entire country’s economy, affecting all sectors.