Kenneth Mwebembezi

An Analysis of Uganda's Legal Regime on Capital Gains Taxation of Oil: a Story of an Inadequate Legal Regime and Protracted Legal Disputes Kenneth Mwebembezi

There has been countrywide excitement in regard to reports that Uganda stands to reap huge revenues from the recently discovered oil. Part of the revenues are those that are collected during the pre-production period or the up-stream sector. A substantial amount of revenue from the upstream sector is collected on disposal of pre-production capital assets such as ?interests in the licences? granted to International Oil Companies (IOCs). This research concentrates on licence disposals. The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) taxes such gains accruing to IOCs on the initial sum invested by including them in their business income. This tax is also known as Capital Gains Tax. However, much as this mode is embedded in the Ugandan Income Tax Act (ITA), there are questions as to its certainty. This paper examined the appropriateness of the legal and policy framework regarding taxation of gains on pre-production transactions in the oil and gas sector. Particular emphasis was placed the relevant provisions of the ITA and relevant instruments that form the bulk of the case for taxation of capital gains within Uganda.