Taxation Training for Hon Justices of Supreme Court & Court of Appeal
The URA Commissioner General (Ms Doris Akol) with Justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal at the taxation training
Hon. Justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal underwent two a day training on Uganda's tax justice system and how to handle new emerging tax issues from the oil and gas industry. The two-day training that was organized by the Judicial Studies Institute and the Uganda Revenue Authority was opened by the Chief Justice at the Lake Victoria Serena Hotel in Kigo.
In his opening remarks, the Chief Justice said the training was timely given the new developments in the oil and gas industry which have posed challenges for judicial officers especially in handling tax related matters.
"I am aware that with the new developments in the area of oil and gas, the stakeholders including the Judiciary are going to face new challenges related to taxes. Indeed some of these challenges have already manifested," he said.
"Clearly, it is necessary for courts to have an effective tax adjudication system so as to assist the tax body in the management of such challenges." He urged participants to understand the law on taxation in addition to being updated on national and global trends.
In her openingremarks, commissioner general of URA Doris Akol, appealed to the justices tofast track the litigation of cases involving taxation saying a lot of money about Shillings 500 billion is being held in taxation cases pending before various courts. She explained that the aforementioned figure is a lot of money which it was in circulation would cause a lot of economic development.
"The longer cases take to be resolved, the longer it takes to collect revenue but also affects the businesses of our clients," she stated,adding that over sh 500bn is held up in yet-to-be disposed cases.
Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, who officially opened the two-day training workshop, appealed to Ms Akol to lobby and increase on the budget allocated to Judiciary so that they can have more judicial officers and better services so that they can be able to fast track cases including those of taxation.
The CJ lamented that the recent read budget saw judiciary's budget cut from 0.6 per cent of the national budget to 0.45 per cent which reduction he said was too bad.
The training workshop is running under e theme:"Understanding Uganda's Tax System and it's Impact on Economic Growth"
Posted 23rd, June 2017
