UGANDA, Kampala | Real Muloodi News | Governments have made efforts to make online property tax payments seamless during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, municipal authorities are providing calculators on their websites to help people calculate their property tax liabilities. Nevertheless, these advancements by government has not deterred companies in the property tax services market, reports The Courier.
Property tax services companies have in fact ramped up their efforts to target taxpayers with tax advisory and compliance services, with the help of software. Such trends are helping to keep economies in this services sector running, despite the pandemic-driven economic downturn.
Property tax software has been in high demand during the pandemic. Tax software solutions simplify the work of the stakeholders to track depreciation schedules, reportability, and classifications, allowing for fast decision-making and acquisition of tax compliance information.
Growth Opportunities in Kampala
In a recent article, Real Muloodi News reported that Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has made significant improvements in increasing the tax base in Kampala. Since 2014, the KCCA has performed mass enumeration of properties in the city, collecting ownership information, GIS coordinates, and property attributes for over 300,000 properties. These efforts have helped to broaden the property tax net and raised revenues.
Despite these tax base widening measures, 66% of the revenues remain uncollected. This is because of poor tax compliance.
These compliance challenges present companies in the property tax services market a marvellous opportunity to capitalise on the situation to grow their customer base. This not only helps their own bottom-line, but better compliance in Kampala benefits all of Uganda, helping to reduce the debt to GDP ratio.
The demand for independent, result-driven, and innovative property tax services is therefore increasing. Companies in this space offer ratio studies, annual trending help and industrial construction assessment to their clients. Robust software solutions bolster compliance by firms in the property service market.
By the year 2031, the property tax services industry is projected to cross USD 5.8bn, according to The Courier.
Property Related Taxation Exemptions
Besides advisory and compliance, companies in the property tax services look at property tax exemption and abatement services with keen interest. This focus explains why the property tax services market is expected to grow at a favourable CAGR of ~7% during the assessment period, says The Courier.
Property tax services companies are providing employee training to maximize all available statutory property tax exemptions and abatements, The Courier adds.
