By Oketayot Santo
South Sudan’s National Revenue Authority (NRA) on Friday commissioned the construction of a Tax Academy aimed at equipping tax officials and customs officers with the necessary skills to boost the collection of non-oil revenue.
Patrick Kennedy Mugoya, Commissioner General of the NRA said during the ground- breaking ceremony at the check point suburb of Juba that the tax academy when complete will ease collection of non-oil revenue.
“The South Sudan Tax Academy will impart all the requisite skills to the staff of the national revenue authority so that they will be able to collect revenue in a very professional manner in a very competent manner to the convenience of South Sudan tax payers, investors and the business community,” Mugoya said.
He said the project is collaboration between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the government in which the government contributed 1.5 million US dollars, while AfDB contributed 1 million dollars.
Mugoya said the Tax Academy will benefit NRA staff, tax officers, and customs officers, in addition to offering training related to management and leadership development for tax officers and customs officers.
“We will also enroll key stake-holders in the taxation system, as you know we work with tax consultants tax lawyers these are the people who advise tax payers on how best to comply,” he said.
Mugoya said once the NRA Tax Academy is completed in the next six months, they will be able to conduct capacity building training to staff locally rather than sending them for training abroad.
He disclosed that the staff will attend training in freight forwarding and logistics.
“We will impart relevant skills, and knowledge that will be required for them to comply with the tax system, we will also provide training to custom agents, these are the people who file import and export declaration,” Mugoya said.
