An Appraisal of the Electronic Tax (E-Tax) Employed by The Ura in Collecting Taxes

ABSTRACT

The study established the legal effectiveness of the electronic tax (e-tax) employed by the (URA) in collecting taxes. All the reforms in the Uganda's tax system were aimed at improving tax collections, administration, and above all e-tax. In a bid to improve e-tax, Uganda Revenue Authority decided to go online hence introducing the electronic tax filing system. Despite of the introduction of the Electronic tax system, Uganda Revenue Authority is facing a problem of tax payers failing to adapt to the new system of E-tax service system. The study was guided by the following objectives;- to identizy the components ofE-tax service system, to identizy the reasons for the adoption and the successes attained of E-tax system by URA, to establish whether electronic tax filing system has reduced tax compliance costs of tax payer's. Methodology utilized will be qualitative in nature as, according to Leedy, this methodology is aimed at description. By utilizing qualitative methodologies the research is able to evaluate both formal and normative aspects of political activity. E-taxation is a very specific form of E-Government that supports tax authority processes that include work flow systems and electronic record management on the one hand, knowledge management and automated risk analysis to assess the credibility of tax returns on the other hand. The E-Tax system generally has improved tax administration in areas where it is applied; however the research has shown that there are still challenges faced in applying it, like power interruptions, poor internet connectivity, and lack of internet access in office premises for some businesses. Implementing and monitoring EARA motivation framework. E.g Adherence to the transfer and deployment policy. System monitoring, this should be done at the implementation stage to enable the URA review all that is on the URA web portal and therefore change where the need arises and for better service delivery to the users of the E-tax services