Uganda: URA payment registration numbers and the e-Tax portal

What the PRN system is

URA's processes and systems guide tells taxpayers to go to ura.go.ug and click Make a payment on the home page. They generate a payment slip and register a payment ¹. The payer picks the tax head, such as income tax, loads the periods, adds the amount and submits the form. The system produces a payment registration slip ¹.

URA tells payers to take note of the payment registration number on the slip. They can then make payment in the bank, by mobile money or through any other URA payment mode ¹.

Who runs it and the legal basis

URA runs the portal and the PRN process ¹. Other government bodies route their fees through it. The Ministry of Internal Affairs tells payers of Government Security Office fees to register on the URA site, choose Other NTR and select the ministry and office from the lists ².

The Public Finance Management Act, 2015 says all revenues or other money raised or received for the purpose of the Government must be paid into the Consolidated Fund, under section 30(1) ³. Section 29(1) says revenue shall not be collected or received by a vote, state enterprise or public corporation without the authority of an Act of Parliament ³. Section 33(2) bars opening a bank account to receive or spend public money without the written authority of the Accountant General. Section 33(6) makes the Bank of Uganda the depository of cash for the operations of votes ³. Section 57(1) says petroleum revenue due to the Government shall be collected or received by URA ³.

The sources opened for this article do not give a start date for the PRN system or the e-Tax portal.

How a payer uses a PRN

A guide published by the Atomic Energy Council on 19 April 2023 shows the full route for a non-tax fee ⁵. The payer registers online at ura.go.ug, at a URA tax office or at the council's accounts office. The payer enters taxpayer details and an email address. The slip is sent to that address ⁵.

The slip is valid for 21 days. At a bank, the payer presents the slip and payment to a teller at the bank named on the slip. Mobile money is available for payments below 3 million shillings ⁵.

• Register the payment on ura.go.ug and choose the tax head or Other NTR ^1,2
• Print the payment registration slip with the PRN ⁵
• Pay at the named bank or by mobile money within 21 days ⁵
• Keep the receipt as proof of payment ²

How money reaches government

The Atomic Energy Council guide says the bank acknowledges the payment and the transaction details reach URA within about 5 minutes. URA then updates the payer's account and sends confirmation to the council and to the payer's portal account ⁵.

The law requires revenue to go to the Consolidated Fund ³. The official pages opened for this article do not describe the URA collection accounts or the timing of transfers to the Consolidated Fund. No PRN fee was listed in the URA guide opened ¹.

Audit and parliamentary findings

On 10 July 2023 the Office of the Auditor General briefed Parliament's Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) on URA's accounts for the year ended 30 June 2022 ⁴. The committee was told URA's approved budget was Shs534 billion and that URA retained Shs34.7 billion unspent from the previous year ⁴.

The Auditor General's report states that the unspent funds were not returned to the Consolidated Fund as required by the Public Finance Management Act ⁴. The Auditor General's officials said URA had authorisation from the finance minister to retain the funds and that URA still received an unqualified opinion ⁴. They said the URA Act lets URA retain funds with the permission of the Secretary to the Treasury. The committee said it would seek clarity on whether the PFMA overrides the URA Act and scheduled a meeting with URA for 11 July 2023 ⁴.