Effective July 1, 2023, the Ministry of Works and Transport will commence all registration activities and processes for vehicles.
The first phase in the transition involved post-registration services like change of ownership, alterations, de-registration, duplicate number plates and registration books was successfully done.
According to the transition programme, however, the second phase including the first registration processing was left with URA to give time to the Ministry of Works and Transport time to get ready.
The main factor was the installation of a new Motor Vehicle Registration System (MVRS) which they did not have previously. According to URA, Uganda imports about 50,000 vehicles every year, worth about 650 billion Shillings in taxes. It is not clear how many vehicle transfers, alterations or de-registrations are done.
URA will hand over first-time registration and registration and licensing of foreign registered vehicles (temporary imports in TEVIES). In 2021, URA handed over to the Ministry of Works all post-registration processes under the Domestic Taxes Department in the tax body, while it remained with the “first registration” function until now.
The new registration system will also capture vehicles coming into the country before the declaration in Asycuda (an integrated UN customs management system for international trade and transport operations in a modern automated environment).
However, the function of revenue collection will remain with URA and this will fall under non-tax revenues from the motor vehicle registration services. MoWT will also take over the integrations with the motor vehicle database that URA has provided to various MDAs, including the Insurance Regulatory Authority, Uganda Police and Uganda Registration Services Bureau for better management of the industry.
The move also aligns with the Government’s implementation and operationalisation of an Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS). This system requires the issuance of new digital plates to enable tracking of vehicles and motorcycles to combat crime facilitated by the use of vehicles.
The system is to be provided by Joint Stock Company-Global Security.
To implement the digital system in the next financial year, MoWT issued regulations requiring car owners to apply for replacing the old plates with digital plates with tracking devices, new number series for each vehicle category and new number series for each vehicle category for each Government agency.
A centralised vehicle register will be provided, and sensors will be inbuilt into the registration plates.
URA hailed the transfer of the roles as a way to improve service delivery and ease access to the services.
URA spokesperson Ibrahim Bbossa said that having all aspects of motor vehicle registration offered by one agency will improve service delivery to Ugandans.
“It comes at a time when we are streamlining services as URA by leveraging on technology to simplify processes and user experience hence offering better service delivery to our clients; for us, that is a win,” he said.
Bbossa added that car owners would be informed of the changes as part of URA’s Taxpayer education programs before implementation.
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