The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) collections for the month of December 2005 surpassed the target of 240.98 billion shillings (131 million U.S. dollars), according to the tax body's fresh report available Kampala on Thursday.

"Revenue collection amounted to 242.67 billion shillings (131.9 million dollars) with a surplus of 1.69 billion shillings (900,000 dollars) was registered, which represents a performance level of 100.7 percent," said the report.

December's collections also surpassed the 212.9 billion shillings (115.7 million dollars) recorded during the same period of the previous year.

Local press on Thursday attributed the revenue increase to government inputs, international trade and indirect domestic taxes.

Taxes on the international trade hit 96.5 billion shillings (52. 4 million dollars) against a target of 95.8 billion shillings (52. 1 million dollars) while indirect taxes were 39.3 billion shillings (21.4 million dollars) against a target of 36.3 billion shillings (19.7 million dollars).

However, the report showed a shortfall in direct domestic taxes like pay as you earn, corporate rate tax and presumptive tax to 100.7 billion shillings (54.7 million dollars) against a target of 101.7 billion shillings (55.3 million dollars).

There was also a shortfall on fees and licenses that stood at 5. 9 billion shillings (3.2 million dollars) against a target of 7 billion shillings (3.8 million dollars).

URA targets revenue collections for January 2006 at 170.7 billion shillings (92.8 million dollars), up from 140.6 billion shillings (76.4 million dollars) which was recorded in January of the 2004/2005 financial year.

Source: Xinhua