Our team in Uganda provides tax advisory services in connection with income tax, value added tax, customs, tax planning and compliance, tax due diligence and international taxation.
We also act for clients in tax disputes, and are currently representing large multinational organisations in high-value tax cases before the Ugandan Tax Appeals Tribunal and the Commercial Court.
Our tax team combines experience in the energy, financial, manufacturing, mining, transport and telecommmunications sectors. Particular fields of expertise include cross-border contracts, companies, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, domestic borrowing, real estate, project finance, oil and gas, provident and pension funds and off-shore investments.
Experience has included advising:
- Total E&P, Tullow Operations and CNOOC Uganda in a complex, multi-million dollar tax dispute with the Uganda Revenue Authority.
- Rift Valley Railways, the Kenya-Uganda railway concessionaire, in a multimillion-USD tax dispute with the Uganda Revenue Authority.
- Vivo Energy in appellate proceedings before the Commercial Court relating to a dispute over the tax treatment of advance rent and premium on lease properties.
- Britannia Allied Industries in a tax refund claim arising our import commission under the East African Community Customs Management Act 2004.
- Standard Chartered Bank in proceedings against the Uganda Revenue Authority that sought to determine the tax treatment of the application of retained earnings to issue bonus shares.
- AIG Insurance on a shareholder re-organisation, including procuring a special-case stamp duty exemption.
- British American Tobacco in a tax dispute with the Uganda Revenue Authority arising out of the tax treatment of royalties paid in respect of the importation and sale of a premium cigarette brand.
In terms of the ease-of-doing-business environment, the 2019 Doing Business Report rates Uganda at 127 out of 190 countries, while the 2018 Global Competitiveness Index rates Uganda at 117 of 140 countries.
Various vehicles exist under Burundian law. In fact, a Burundian company is established by an agreement involving two or more shareholders who agree to share part of their property and their know how to perform one or more specified activities in order to share the profits or take advantage of the economy that may result.
In the World Bank’s ease of doing business (2020) Ghana scored 60.0 on a scale of 100 as compared to the regional average (Sub-Saharan) of 51.8.
The global business segment of the Mauritius International Financial Centre provides convenience, fiscal efficiency and risk mitigation for companies engaged in international operations.