Nile Breweries Limited v Uganda Revenue Authority, Stanbic Bank and Standard Chartered
High Court, Civil Appeal No. 0014 of 2022. July to December 2025. Coram: Hon. Justice Stephen Mubiru.
Right of Appeal from Decisions of the Tax Appeals Tribunal · Contempt of the Tribunal’s Orders · Meaning of “Tax in Dispute” in Tax Matters · The Requirement to Deposit 30% of the Tax in Dispute
To stop collection while a dispute is heard, a taxpayer pays 30% of the tax in dispute. A brewer argued what it had already paid should count.
The situation
A brewer paid its self-assessed excise duty and VAT but disputed additional assessments. The Tribunal granted an injunction against collection on condition that it paid 30% of the tax in dispute or the tax not in dispute, whichever was greater. The brewer said the self-assessed tax it had paid already exceeded 30% of the disputed amount. The Revenue Authority issued agency notices to two banks, which were not honoured, and the Tribunal found the brewer and the banks in contempt.
How it was resolved
The High Court set aside the contempt finding: failing to pay the deposit should have meant the injunction lapsed, not contempt. But on the main point the Revenue Authority won: the 30% applies to the disputed additional assessment, and self-assessed tax already paid does not count towards it.
What a practitioner takes from it
Budget for the 30% deposit on the disputed additional assessment itself; tax paid on your own return does not reduce it.
If the deposit is not paid, expect the protection from collection to fall away.
What could change
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.