Overview:
This comes barely a month after the Energy minister signed the Mining and Minerals (Export Levy on Refined Gold) Regulations 2023, which imposed a levy of $200 (Shs740,000) on each kilogramme of exported refined Gold.
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Ms Ruth Nankabirwa, has asked the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to halt the implementation of the new tax imposed on gold exports.
In a letter dated March 7, Nankabirwa told URA commissioner general that the tax should be halted as they make further consultations.
“Reference is made to the Mining and Minerals (Export Levy on Refined Gold) Regulations 2023 whose purpose is to collect arrears of outstanding export levy on exported gold from FY 2021/2022 to 30 June 2023. The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to request that the Uganda Revenue Authority halts the implementation of the Statutory Instrument until further guidance is provided,” the letter read.
This comes barely a month after the Energy minister signed the Mining and Minerals (Export Levy on Refined Gold) Regulations 2023, which imposed a levy of $200 (Shs740,000) on each kilogramme of exported refined Gold.
The law was to affect previous taxes dating back to July 1, 2021 and continue in force up to the end of FY 2022/23.
In July 2021, Finance ministry stopped URA from collecting the 5 percent levy on each kilogramme of gold exported. As a result, this affected URA’s tax collection target, with the Auditor General’s report said Shs340b in taxes from gold exports was missed in the FY 2021/22.
Until June 2021, gold was Uganda’s leading leading export commodity, contributing at least 44 percent of total export earnings, according to data from Bank of Uganda.
But gold trading in Uganda is a highly secretive business. Apart from export volumes, little is known about the origin of the commodity.