Bosco Hitimana

KIGALI, RWANDA -Rwanda is to ease tax declarations for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in a bid to facilitate new ones to form and existing ones to grow.

Finance and Economic Planning minister,  John Rwangombwa, said that the move is expected to see SMEs declare taxes on quarterly basis instead of the current monthly declarations.  

Rwangombwa said the move would save SMEs’ time spent declaring taxes at Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA).

There are about 20,000-25,000 SMEs in Rwanda, according to the revenue body.

The law stipulates that all taxpayers declare taxes on a monthly basis and the government found it imperative to scrap this burden on SMEs allowing them more time to concentrate on their businesses. 

The Commissioner for Large Taxpayers at RRA, Mr. Ben Kagarama, said the government proposal is being studied but he did not reveal when it would be effective. “We’ve already seen it and we are working on it,” Kagarama told East African Business Week by telephone in Kigali last week. 

He said Rwanda classifies businesses according to their annual turnovers.  For example, small enterprises fall in the range of US$35,087 to $350,877 of annual turnover while Medium enterprises turnover is between $35,087 and $877,192.