Three good refinery companies have failed to convince the High Court in Kampala to stop the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) from collecting taxes from them.
The gold refinery companies include Aurnish Trading Ltd, Metal Testing and Smelting Co. Ltd, and Bullion refinery.
Gold after being processed by refining companies.
According to the ruling of Kintu Simon Zirintusa the registrar of the Civil division of the High Court, he held that URA had the moral and legal authority as a government entity to collect taxes in a monetary form.
He added on that URA was to also refund any amount of money that was wrongfully collected should the final ruling lie in favor of the gold refinery companies.
This all came when the companies filed a petition seeking that High Court should pass a temporary injunction stoping URA from collecting taxes, they however failed to bring sufficient evidence over the matter.
The companies deal in the import, processing and export of gold and argued in there report that according to section 172(1),(2) and article 23 of the East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004 and the Protocol on the Establishment of the East African Community to which Uganda is a member, restricts payment of import duties and taxes on goods brought to customs section for processing and later export.
They also stated that they never charged levy on their gold since their was no law in 2021 that provided for levy on export gold that had initially been imported for processing and later exported out of the country.
They there fore challenged court to come up with a final statement and resolution concerning the matter.
The Attorney General, who was also a respondent replied to the application and said that in 2022 government decided to tax gold exports and came to agreement with gold traders that $200 around Shs. 760,000 was to be charged per kilogram of processed gold and 1% on the value of unprocessed gold.
He added on that the government in 2021 had introduced the Mining Amendment Bill which provided for levy on exportation of gold according to the above prices. This was in section 116A and 116B.
By the time of the press briefing, it was not clear as to when the main suit filed by the three gold refinery companies would be set for hearing to pass a final resolution.
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