daniel chigunweUganda Revenue Authority (URA) has written to airlines operating in Uganda to reject gold shipments from the country if the exporters do not show proof of clearance of all payments warning that transporting uncustomed gold will be contrary to the East African Community Customs Management.
The interventions come after a damning December 2022 report to parliament by Auditor-General John Muwanga faulting the taxman for failing to collect taxes from gold exports worth Ush340 billion ($89.3 million). Gold dealers earned millions of dollars from trading in the precious mineral.
“A total of Ush340 billion in taxes had not been collected from gold exports valued at Ush6,92 trillion (US$1,8 billion) for the year under review. Management attributed non-collection to the minister’s statutory guidance staying the implementation of the one percent export levy,” Mr Muwanga wrote.
In its defence, URA’s management blamed the meagre collections on a tax dispute with gold exporters. The dispute started in April 2022 after enactment of a law imposing a levy of five per cent on every kilogramme of refined gold and 10 percent on unprocessed gold for export.
The tax had proposed a charge of US$200 for every kilogramme.
Gold exporters and refiners termed the rates untenable, with both URA and the Uganda Free Zones Authority agreeing, warning they could lose business to neighbouring countries that do not impose such a levy.
The exporters in turn refused to make covert sales, resorting to smuggling.
To ensure resumption of gold exports, the URA followed a statutory guidance of staying the implementation of the one percent by the Minister for Energy and Mineral Development Ruth Nankabirwa and suspended the export levy. -The East African
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