‘Govt has no intention of taking over, taxing money in dormant accounts’

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‘Govt has no intention of taking over, taxing money in dormant accounts’
‘Govt has no intention of taking over, taxing money in dormant accounts’

Africa-PressUganda. The Ministry Finance, Planning and Economic Development jointly with the Bank of Uganda, has assured Ugandans that the Government has no intention of taking over or taxing people’s money in the dormant accounts.

Addressing journalists in Kampala on Wednesday, Minister of Finance, Planning, Economic Development, Mr Matia Kasaija said: “The Government has no intention of taking over or taxing unclaimed balances in bank accounts or mobile money accounts. Therefore, media reports purporting that Government will do so are misleading.”

Social media has been awash with claims that the government is taking over the money in the dormant accounts but Mr Kasaija emphasized that as a regulator of the banking sector, Bank of Uganda applies a set of laws to deal with unclaimed balances or dormant accounts for Supervised Financial Intuitions (SFIs) and Electronic Money Issuers (EMIs), which among others, is that unclaimed balances shall after a period of five years from the date of advertisement in the print media be transferred to Bank of Uganda.

“The public should note that the Bank of Uganda shall refund any unclaimed balances to the depositors of those balances with Supervised Financial Institutions or, if the depositor is dead, his or her legal representative, if a request is made after the dormant account has been transferred to the Bank of Uganda,” he said.

The Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda, Dr Michael Atingi-Ego said the money in dormant accounts is safe and accessible when the right owner shows up and makes a claim for it.

“Taking over people’s money in the dormant account would be against the central bank’s policy mission of fostering price stability and a sound financial system in the country,” he said.

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