Minister Kasaija Clears Air on Alleged Plan to Tax, Take Over Money on Dormant Bank, Mobile Money Accounts

Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Minister, has spoken out on reports that government plans to tax and take over money on dormant bank and mobile money accounts.

For days, now reports of an alleged plan by government to take over and or tax dormant accounts have been discussed on social media.

But addressing the matter during a press conference at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala on September 22, Minister Kasaija said: “The Government of Uganda has no intentions of taking over or taxing unclaimed balances in bank accounts or mobile money accounts.”

Minister Kasaija explains what happens to Dormant Accounts and Unclaimed Balances

As the regulator of the banking sector, BOU applies a set of laws to deal with unclaimed balances of dormant accounts for Supervised Financial Institutions and Electronic Money Issuers.

According to Section 119 of the Financial Institutes Act 2004 & Section 83 of the Microfinance Deposit taking Institutions Act 2004 and Section 83 of Microfinance Deposit taking Institutions Act 2003, a dormant account is one that has no activity for a period of two years.

After two years of inactivity, the SFI transfers the said accounts to a separate register of dormant accounts in its books and a notice is sent to the depositor at his or her known address.

The public is informed that there is a period of up to 10 years within which to rectify the issue of unclaimed balances on your accounts held with supervised financial institutions.

Customers who hold accounts with Electronic Money Issuers have a total of 8 years and three months within which to deal with the issue of dormant accounts.