What should change
Set down for the Ministry of Finance, the Revenue Authority and the Parliament of Uganda, from the rulings in the Casebook
Deadlines and procedure
1.Case 001The ninetieth day
A deadline both sides can see. If the e-tax portal showed the date an objection was received and the date the ninety days end, neither side would need to argue about counting.
The Revenue Authority's systems2.Case 006The application that was never filed
Electronic filing receipts sent to the taxpayer as well as to counsel would let a client see that a step was actually taken.
The Revenue Authority's systems3.Case 019The bottler and the audit that took years
A statutory deadline for completing an audit would protect taxpayers and the Revenue Authority alike from disputes about years a decade old.
Parliament4.Case 020The wrong column
The portal could refuse an objection that disputes nothing, instead of letting it through to an empty decision.
The Revenue Authority's systems5.Case 043ADR does not stop the clock
The Act could say expressly whether ADR stops the clock. Taxpayers are reasonably led to think it does.
Parliament
The 30% deposit and the route of appeal
6.Case 007Thirty percent of what?
The deposit rule, its base and its exceptions could be set out in one place in the Act; four of the cases in this book turn on what it means.
Parliament7.Case 008First appeal or second?
A single provision on the route of appeal in tax cases, from the Tribunal to the Supreme Court, would end a question that has been litigated since 2012.
Parliament
Evidence, estimates and reconciliations
8.Case 002When the VAT returns and the accounts don't agree
A routine VAT-to-income-tax reconciliation at filing, so gaps are explained in the year they arise. Seven years of dispute over figures from 2013 cost both sides; as EY reports the Tribunal observing, everyone loses in the long run.
The Revenue Authority's systems9.Case 029The best judgment that wasn't
One reconciled assessment per period, not one per department, would have avoided most of this case.
The Revenue Authority's practice
Customs classification
10.Case 005Fruit pulp, and a change of mind
Binding advance classification rulings, with a clear rule that a change applies only from the date it is notified, would remove this whole class of dispute.
The Revenue Authority's practice
Deductions, losses and interest
11.Case 004Gross or net interest?
If Parliament wants a net rule, it has to say so; the Tribunal will not read one in. Groups that both lend and borrow internally are the ones this ruling bites.
Parliament12.Case 028Losses and the interest cap
Defining 'tax EBITDA' in the Act, item by item, would settle a question now decided case by case.
Parliament13.Case 047The cost of finding oil
Faster resolution of high-value disputes, through dedicated case management, would limit the interest that accrues on both sides.
The Tribunal and the courts
Exemptions, remissions and zero-rating
14.Case 003Billed abroad, consumed at home
Published guidance with worked examples on when a service supplied to a non-resident counts as exported would save disputes like this one, which turn on facts both sides could have agreed at the start.
The Revenue Authority's practice15.Case 032Rice from Tanzania
Applying an Attorney General's opinion across the board, once the authority accepts it, would avoid a case for every importer.
The Revenue Authority's practice16.Case 038Billed abroad: the first round
Statutory rules on the place of supply of business-to-business services would replace two opposite rulings with one test.
Parliament