An Assessment of Usability of Online Tax Return Services in Uganda and Its Influence on Tax Revenue

Abstract

The introduction of various online tax return services in sub-Saharan Africa was meant to foster tax compliance and improve tax revenues for economic growth and development. However, there is evidence that these online tax services may not have improved tax returns as expected. In this paper, we set out to investigate how the usability factor of these online tax return services has affected the use of the services by the tax payer. This research undertook a pilot study in Uganda which is a typical Sub-Saharan African country. We majorly focused on the online tax return services provided by Uganda Revenue Authority (URA). In order to assess the usability level of these services, the System Usability Scale (SUS) was used. Developed by John Brooke in 1986, the SUS is a simple, ten-item scale used to conduct usability assessments on a systems. Twenty two tax paying businesses within Central Business District of Mbale municipality in Uganda were selected for the study. The study found out that, out of the four online tax return services provided by URA at the time of the study, only 50 % of the online tax return services were utilized by the tax payers. Only 33% of the different electronic payment modes provided by URA are used. The findings also revealed that the SUS average score for URA's online tax return services was 53, and this means that the average usability score for the URA online tax return services was 16%. This signifies serious usability problems with the services. Based on the findings of this study, there is a high likelihood that poor usability of the online tax return services may have played a major role in the low tax revenues expected from the online tax return services in Uganda and sub-Saharan Africa in general.