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The government is struggling to ensure that, taxpayers are not evading taxes and pay what really represents their operations. In an attempt to do that, it has introduced a new technology and has required taxpayers to pay their taxes using the technology. On the other hand, there has been reported strikes and reluctance on the side of taxpayers to adopt the system. Many reasons have been advanced on this reluctance, such as not being able economically, complexity of the technology, etc. This study was put in place to assess the contribution of technology in revenue collection by taking a case of Ilala tax region. Specifically, the study intended to fulfill the following objectives; to explore perceptions of taxpayers on use of technology in revenue collection, to analyze the effects of technology on revenue collection and to investigate on the challenges that face TRA on the collection of revenue using technology.
The study was conducted using a descriptive cross-sectional survey where Ilala region was taken to represent other tax regions. Data was collected from taxpayers and from TRA officials using questionnaire and interviews respectively. Analysis was done using both quantitative and qualitative means by a help of Excel spreadsheet.
It was found out that, generally, most taxpayers had very positive perceptions on the use of technology in paying taxes. In fact, those who happened to use the system prefer it because of many advantages which include but not limited to simplicity in using the technology, saving of time and reduction of errors, among others. The study also found out that, taxpayers have realized several benefits of using the technology for paying taxes. These are; cost saving, improvement of productivity, time saving, transparency of the processes, and reduction of disturbances. Furthermore, the study uncovered four challenges which face TRA on tax administration using technology. These are; non-issuance of receipts by taxpayers, inadequate technological knowledge among TRA officers, lack of education among taxpayers, and centralization of systems which impaired quick decision making.
The study recommended that, the Government should assist TRA on the supervision and enforcement of the law regarding business operators who do not issue receipts of business transactions. The Government was also advised to decentralize the system in the long run in order to enable taxpayers get immediate solutions in locations where they operate their businesses in case they encounter problems. It was also recommended that, TRA should train its workforce on the new technologies so that they become capable to assist taxpayers timely whenever need arises. Finally, taxpayers were advised to issue receipts using EFD machines whenever they sell goods and services. |
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