By Marvin Ocol
About two years ago, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) adopted the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to further encourage voluntary compliance and to amicably resolve tax disputes with taxpayers.
Through the ADR mechanism, 3 (three) cases were amicably resolved outside the court process yielding UGX. 75.8Bn in revenue collected for the period 1st July 2021 to 31st December 2021, thus unlocking revenue that had been locked in some of the Court cases with some of our Large Taxpayers.
Cumulatively, a total of 15 cases have so far been settled through ADR ever since the initiative was introduced in June 2020, and URA has so far collected revenue of UGX. 285.8Bn and USD. 10.4 Million. According to URA Commissioner General John Musinguzi, this initiative has proved to be very effective in resolving long-standing tax disputes.
In addition, Musinguzi says ADR has further improved the relationship between the taxpayers and URA since it is conducted in an unbiased, non-confrontational and cordial environment.
In addition, the CG notes that “we have embarked on a cost-efficient service-centric approach by listening more to the concerns and being more responsive to clients concerns.”
“We also encourage taxpayers to embrace the voluntary disclosure avenue by doing a tax health check and cleaning their tax account without waiting for penalties,” Musinguzi said on Wednesday morning.
