Sudhir Ruparelia receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from CSWCT for his philanthropic work in Uganda's chimpanzee conservation

Jigar Chandarana, a director of Wellex Hardware Ltd., and two other individuals were found guilty and sentenced to prison by the Kololo Anti-Corruption Court for generating and selling false invoices.

 Wellex Hardware Ltd., situated in Bwaise, Kawempe division, along Bombo Road, Kampala, was accused of producing fraudulent invoices with the intention of defrauding. This was brought up in court on Wednesday, June 14. The hardware shop largely offers building goods.

 According to the Uganda Revenue Authority, the intelligence community is working constantly to catch anybody suspected of committing such tax infractions.

 The nation's tax collector professes to be alert and has so established a number of techniques to counteract the vice. According to URA, it mostly focuses on intelligence-led efforts, and as a consequence, numerous made-up businesses have been identified.

 According to URA, it is alert and has therefore established a number of strategies to fight the vice. According to URA, it mostly focuses on intelligence-led efforts, and as a consequence, numerous made-up businesses have been identified.

 Izimba Aaron, a 44-year-old accountant and director of Izimba & Company Certified Public Accountants, was one of seven firms recently caught up in dubious activities such as invoice swapping.

Stuart Aheebwa, the Supervisor of Litigation at URA, claimed that owing to his conduct, which included fabricating trade invoices and exploiting some of his clients' Tax Identification Numbers (TINs), a tax loss of UGX 2.8 billion was incurred. Izimba is also accused of making transactions on behalf of some of his clients while modifying the passwords for their TINs.

 The Tax Procedures Code (Amendment) Act, 2022's Section 62H(c) says that it is a criminal for a taxpayer to make a false or misleading statement in the information return.

 If found guilty, the offense carries a maximum penalty of 2500 currency points for each day of noncompliance, a maximum term of 10 years in prison, or both. A currency point is worth 20,000 UGX.

 The most recent operations take place at a time when URA has already initiated a campaign to urge all taxpayers to collect receipts at the moment of purchase.

 Mr. John Musinguzi Rujoki, Commissioner General of URA, indicated that the new program is part of the government's push towards self-sustenance and minimizing borrowing to support the budget. He noted that it would also assist firms improve their record-keeping since the receipts will offer an accurate picture of the amounts of products and services supplied to customers. The program was inaugurated at URA headquarters in Kampala last week.

 "The purpose of this program is to develop a culture of accountability and record-keeping, which are vital components for the growth and success of any economy. For us to comprehend the progress of our company and clients, we need accurate data. As you are aware, preserving records has not been a part of Ugandan culture, said Musinguzi.

 According to the Commissioner General, the new campaign will help the Authority be more accountable for the taxes it is collecting since the new computerized system will inform URA on the commodities being sold by all firms, and there won't be a need to submit taxes moving forward as there is today.

 He also noted that despite the introduction of electronic tax payments in 2020, there has been a poor reception of the technology, which he ascribed to some enterprises' incapacity to purchase the equipment required by URA to compute their taxes.

 Some firms lack the cash to acquire electronic gear, or if they have, they opt to spend the money on other things besides technology. Therefore, as URA, we are striving to find a solution to this issue without asking that these firms spend money on equipment that they had not planned for, according to Musinguzi.