Stamp duty administration and revenue performance in Uganda

Abstract

The study on Stamp duty administration and Revenue performance revealed that the Stamp duty administrative methods in URA are inadequate and the revenue performance on most of the instruments is extremely poor. 7 top instruments generated more than 97% of the revenue between July 2007 and June 2008 while the remaining 56 instruments generated less than 3%. The study further showed that the components of Stamp duty administration are significantly and positively related to the stamp duty revenue performance with a potential of explaining 41.8% of the variance in the Stamp duty Revenue Performance as observed from the Prediction model.

The study was motivated by observations that some instruments executed / received in the Banks were always brought for stamping while others were not. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between stamp duty administration and the revenue performance in Uganda. The study was carried out among the tax administrators in Uganda Revenue Authority and the Credit officers in the Banks who execute or receive instruments chargeable to stamp duty in course of their operations.

As a result of the findings, key recommendations ranging from ensuring that there are stamp duty offices in the various areas of the country; public campaigns to enlighten the stakeholders on Stamp duty administration; to the need for reviewing the lists of instruments in the schedule to Stamps Act and adopting modern methods of assessing and stamping instruments through internet like electronic stamping, were forwarded.