
Start Right Rwanda: From Initiative to Impact
At Visions Africa, we launched the Start Right Rwanda initiative with a simple goal: to help businesses and professionals better understand their accounting, tax and
Over the past weeks weโve seen a spike in RRA desk-audit queries on recent quarters. A few quick fixes can save you from painful assessments or blocked refunds:
๐ฌ 1) ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ.
Make sure your electronic address (email) and phone on eTax are current. We often see that communication is sent to the person who originally registered the business, not the person in charge of tax matters โ this increases the risk of missing critical deadlines (Tax Procedures Law (TPL) 2023, Art. 5). In eTax: Update Details โ My Contact Management (add multiple contacts).
๐ 2) ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฌ
โ Desk audit: RRA can invite you to respond within 5 working days of the results โ move fast or you may lose your input VAT claim (TPL 2023, Art. 38).
โ Info requests: when RRA asks for documents, you generally have 7 working days to respond (TPL 2023, Art. 31).
โ
3) ๐๐๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ข๐ง๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐๐
Your entitlement to input VAT now hinges on the supplierโs output VAT being paid to RRA (VAT Law 2023, Art. 17(1)). If the portal shows anomalies for a large โhousehold-nameโ supplier, escalate and document โ otherwise refunds can stall.
๐งพ 4) ๐๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ฆ โ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ-๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ.โ
Personal or non-business items (e.g., food items) are denied as input VAT (VAT Law 2023, Art. 17(4) & Art. 20).
๐ 5) ๐๐ซ๐๐ฉ ๐ โ๐๐๐ฌ๐ค-๐๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ค.โ
EBM invoices, contracts/POs, proof of payment, ledgers, bank proof โ and appoint a qualified representative to deal with RRA (TPL 2023, Art. 98).
If you need a second set of eyes or support handling your desk audit, Visions Africa can help:
๐ฉ Contact us today to discuss your VAT audit needs or schedule a quick consultation.

At Visions Africa, we launched the Start Right Rwanda initiative with a simple goal: to help businesses and professionals better understand their accounting, tax and

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