The Performance Of Customss Services Under Rwanda Revenue Authority. A Case Study Of " Gatuna Customs Post

The purpose of the study was to investigate the performance of customs services under R,,vanda revenue authority. A case study of Gatuna Customs Post. The study was guided by the following objectives, to identify the various Tax structure and administration being implemented by Gatuna customs post in Rwanda, to identify the challenges faced by Gatuna Customs Post in tax administration and to find out procedures used by Gatuna customs post in administering Tax in R,;vanda. The study employed descriptive research design in its methodology and the study findings included that various tax structures included, VAT customs duty and import duty and export duty .Further findings reveal that corruption is the leading problem facing Gatuna customs post. This was followed by bribery with 22%, 3rd embezzlement of public funds and 4th smuggling. The study finally recommended that RRA should come up with more tax reforms which focus more to taxing income directly from tax payers, for instance lowering PA YE threshold so that earnings of majority citizens are captured for tax purposes, There is need to revise the list of zero rated supplies, so that more items are included in the taxable supplies for instance dairy products, Diplomatic Privileges Act must also be revised, for instance allowances and emoluments of members of Parliament need to be included in their income for tax purposes. Strengthening tax administration by empowering staff investigative machinery, making the tax procedures simple, and transparent National identification system needs to be integrated ,vith the RRA tax system, this will aid in tax payers identification. More emphasis should be put in adding values _to agricultural products before they are supplied to market, to increase taxable revenues of farmers, Rwanda Revenue Authority needs to improve on tax payer's education. RRA should put in place a mechanism that minimizes tax exemptions, RRA should come up with more balanced tax refonns that targets both direct and indirect form of taxes which enable domestic revenue to be mobilized from both tax heads.