Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), on Tuesday, December 5, launched "MyRRA" a system that consolidates all its online services within a unified portal.
The portal has commenced with VAT-registered businesses, enabling seamless submission of tax declarations and online payments, but RRA will extend it to all taxpayers, allowing them to view their tax account status across various tax types, review outstanding tax amounts, and anticipate upcoming declarations.
Prior to the introduction of MyRRA, different services were accessed through various RRA systems including e-tax, Rwanda automated local government taxes, non-fiscal revenue services, and Rwanda e-single window.
Speaking during its launch, RRA's Commissioner General Pascal Ruganintwali, referred to the system as a significant achievement in the institution's vision to transform into a world-class, efficient, and modern revenue agency fully capable of meeting national needs.
The realisation of this achievement is attributed to the collaboration between the Government of Rwanda and that of South Korea, which commenced in 2018 through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
Through the cooperation, Rwanda was earlier supported by South Korea in the enhancement of the EBM system and development of the taxpayer relationship management system in the past five years. The project has a total scale of $6.1 million and will conclude this year.
Some of the project's outcomes include the development of the EBM 2.1 and MyRRA portal and the enhancement of the capabilities of RRA and Rwandan IT personnel.
Ruganintwali said the MyRRA system was developed after consultations with taxpayers where it was noted that managing multiple web applications posed challenges in credential management and risked unintentional oversight of obligations due to incomplete status information with the RRA.
"We believe that MyRRA will enhance transparency and efficiency in tax administration and overall service delivery," he noted.
Korean Ambassador Woo-jin Jeong was present at the MyRRA launch event.
Rwanda's collaboration with South Korea in the tax sector has spanned various crucial projects, including the development of an enhanced Electronic Invoicing System (commonly known as EBM), aimed at collecting and storing sales and purchase data.
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The EBM system has played a role in implementing automated controls, effectively reducing instances of tax evasion. From 2013 to 2022, it has been observed a fourfold increase in the VAT registry, a remarkable growth of 129.64 per cent in VAT revenues, and a noteworthy contribution of 272.3 per cent in Income Tax revenues.
Jeanne Francoise Mubiligi, Acting Private Sector Federation (PSF) Chairperson, praised the system, saying it will allow businesspeople to be more dedicated to paying their taxes and have less risk of penalties.
"We are glad to see RRA continuously making efforts to develop solutions for us to do our responsibility by paying taxes in a manner that is user-friendly," she said.
MyRRA is anticipated to be a valuable tool for taxpayers as they fulfil their tax obligations and manage their relationships with RRA.
The launch of MyRRA comes with several initiatives aimed at simplifying tax obligations, including tax law reforms alleviating the tax burden, with the recent approval of the Medium-Term Revenue Strategy (MTRS) implementation plan by the cabinet.
