Effect of Value Added Tax Collection Strategies on Revenue Performance in Rwanda. Case Study of Rwamagana District

Taxation is an important element in the management of the national economy. The purpose of taxation in Rwanda is to finance government planned activities. However, collecting different revenues is a major challenge due to narrow tax base and cases of non-compliance among taxpayers. The agency in charge of collection of tax put in place different strategies to mitigate those challenges. This study entitled the effect of value added tax collection strategies on VAT collection performance in Rwanda analyzed the effect of three different strategies in collection of VAT on revenue performance using a case study of Rwamagana district. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: To determine the effect of Electronic billing machine on the performance of VAT collection in Rwamagana district, to assess the effect of administrative fines on the performance of VAT collection in Rwamagana district and to examine the effect of training of taxpayers in VAT filing on the performance of VAT collection in Rwamagana district. The study used descriptive survey design. The target population was made up by a total of 328 people from Rwamagana district taxpayers registered in VAT and the employee of RRA involved in VAT collection. A sample of 180 persons was used but only 176 respondents return the questionnaires. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was used to establish the effect of VAT collection strategies on revenue performance. And it has been found that all the three strategies have a significant positive effect on VAT collection performance and without them the VAT collection performance would be very poor. These findings provided a practical and useful tool for RRA to establish barriers to compliance and put in place proper and adequate mechanisms to encourage voluntary compliance and minimize non-compliance cases, and for the academicians it will be a useful tool for the empirical reviews.