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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | At least 1500 businesses countywide have written to the National Social Security Fund-NSSF to reschedule their contributions for the next three months, URN has learnt.
This follows a notice issued by NSSF on March 31st, 2020 inviting businesses and employers facing economic distress to reschedule their contributions for the next three months without accumulating any penalty. The NSSF Managing Director, Richard Byarugaba says companies that will benefit from the three month amnesty period fall in sectors including Education, Trade, Transport, Storage, Real Estate and Construction, Human Health and Social Work, Manufacturing and Mining and Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, Recreation, Accommodation and Food services.
According to Byarugaba, they have so far 1300 businesses out of the 1500 that applied for exemption after presenting evidence showing that they are grappling with inadequate cash flows. He says the main beneficiaries are educational institutions, professional and technical services followed by recreation, accommodation and food services.
According to Byaruhanga, they will still continue to assess businesses as and when they apply. He says the decision to allow the rescheduling stems from the fact that the remittance of the funds had dwindled. “The contributions from the mentioned sectors had declined by 33% in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and it is estimated that about 6,800 employers will be directly affected during the period of COVID-19,” Byarugaba said.
The employers are expected to agree with NSSF on a payment schedule, after which they will sign a Deed of Settlement. Businesses that do not apply for the amnesty will be expected to continue to remit NSSF contributions by the 15th day of every month.
NSSF says that this means that in the space of three months with the 1300 businesses, the total amount of money that will not be collected is Shillings 20 billion. NSSF collects Shillings 1.2 trillion a year.
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