Juba taxman: No more tax fraud, cargo smuggling

South Sudan Revenue Authority Commissioner-General Simon Akuei Deng speaks in Mombasa, Kenya, on January 15, 2024. He had toured the port to enforce measures to curb tax evasion and smuggling.

Photo credit: Kevin Odit | Nation Media Group

South Sudan’s tax authority says it is linking its system with partner countries in the East African Community in a bid to stop revenue leakages due to cargo mislabelling.

South Sudan Revenue Authority (SSRA) commissioner-general Simon Akuei Deng said Juba has been losing a lot of revenues in tax evasion through cargo undervaluation.

South Sudan also plans to link its clearing system with those of Kenya and Uganda, its two biggest trading partners in the region, and enable tracking of containers from the port of Mombasa to Juba.

Speaking in Mombasa during his tour to enforce the measures, Mr Deng said SSRA is integrating its system with that of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for seamless movement of goods from the port of Mombasa.

“The measures we are implementing are meant to reduce fraud and avoid goods diversion. In the new tracking system, it will reduce fake invoicing and the seals we have introduced will ensure container and truck match the seal numbers,” Mr Deng said.

“We are asking traders who want to do business with us to comply with all systems involving containers and trucks. Apart from that, we have asked them to raise an invoice at the country’s customs office in Mombasa before making payments in Juba for the goods to be released from the port.”

The decision last week to have all taxes paid in Juba came after Kenyan clearing and forwarding agents protested an earlier directive for taxes and levies on South Sudan-bound cargo to be paid in Mombasa, in dollars.

Mr Deng said the measures had been introduced to deal with tax fraud and smuggling of goods.

These steps should help address cases of cargo mis-declaration at the port of Mombasa, which South Sudan says occurs through concealment and undervaluation during importation. Importers will be required to raise invoices at the point of entry in Mombasa but can pay later for custom duties, accreditation permit, sales taxes, excise taxes, side charge and advance business prrofit tax (BPT).

Last year, traders protested after SSRA asked them to pay all dues, in US dollars at the port of entry in Mombasa before goods are shipped to Juba. Later, the authority reversed the decision and asked traders to raise invoices before shipment, and pay later.

Traders now seem amenable to the idea of paying later and have agreed to support the anti-smuggling policy. Emmanuel Kachoul, Mombasa South Sudan Business Community chairman, said importers and exporters have agreed to a number of issues, including using different seals, each representing regional revenue authorities of partner states, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), KRA and SSRA.

“The new measures call for the use of their own electronic seals under the EAC platform, which have unique colours,” he said.

He said the revenue authorities can now monitor all transit cargo to the final destination.

SSRA has introduced new seals coloured orange and to be used only for South Sudan cargo.

East African revenue authorities estimate they lost about $3 million to tax evasion between October 2023 and April 2024.

During the 18th East African Revenue Authorities Technical Committee on Integrity in Nairobi in April 2024, the commissioners-generals from the EAC agreed to work on the module to end such losses.

In March 2024, SSRA announced the rollout of a mandatory Electronic Cargo Tracking Note for imports and exports after the signing of a memorandum between South Sudan’s Finance ministry and Invesco Uganda Ltd.