The recently appointed Commissioner General of the National Revenue Authority (NRA) has announced a fresh objective to enhance the collection of non-oil revenue, as the ongoing war in Sudan poses a threat to oil-based income.
Athian Diing Athian, speaking at his inauguration ceremony held at the NRA headquarters in Juba, emphasized the urgency of implementing improved domestic revenue mobilization strategies to increase the GDP’s reliance on non-oil revenue.
Diing stated, “NRA will launch an extensive tax base expansion program with the goal of generating up to 40 billion SSP per month by the end of the upcoming fiscal year. While achieving this target may be challenging, we remain focused and determined to attain it.”
Presently, the NRA collects 16 billion SSP per month, according to the former Commissioner General. Diing expressed his intention to empower the domestic tax division to identify additional taxpayers by gaining access to essential databases in both the private and public sectors.
These databases will include information from major private entities such as public infrastructure contractors and hospitality service providers, including prominent hotels, to ensure their compliance with tax obligations and contribute their fair share.
Furthermore, Diing pledged to review all existing exemptions, aiming to grant them exclusively to statutory institutions while invalidating any unauthorized exemptions. He also emphasized the NRA’s commitment to collaborate with key institutions in order to fortify compliance and enforcement systems.
This would involve establishing dry ports at strategic locations to conduct thorough inspections of incoming vehicles from all points of entry, including checkpoints, thereby preventing tax evasion.
With the new Commissioner General at the helm, the NRA is poised to tackle the challenges posed by the conflict in Sudan and secure a sustainable revenue stream from non-oil sources.