Written by Akinyi Winiefred and Photography by Irene Kabakama
Uganda Revenue Authority and Roofings group have agreed to share information on the iron sector for tax purposes. This information is to enable URA differentiate between iron ore and sponge iron following Government’s restriction on the export of unprocessed iron.
The decision follows a request made by the Commissioner General of URA John Musinguzi during his visit to the Factory in Namanve on Friday 17th March 2023.
“The position of Government before has been let’s not export iron ore, with the exception of Kenya but generally speaking we have been stopping any exportation of iron ore. But of late, one the companies that adds some value has started exporting sponge iron and they are saying it is processed not raw. We need some technical advice on how to handle that,” he revealed.
The request was welcomed by the Group CEO Sheikh Arif who pledged their support as Roofings including sharing samples.
During the visit, the URA delegation was taken on a tour of the factory by the Chairman Dr. Sikandar Lalani to understand the institution ’s processes.
The delegation also comprised the Commissioner Tax Investigations, Kugonza Denis who requested the Roofings team to train URA’s science lab team with technicalities on handling cases in the industry.
Abel Kagumire, the Commissioner Customs commended Roofings as a compliant Authorized Economic Operator.
Similarly, Sarah Chelangat, the Commissioner Domestic Taxes lauded the group as one of top tax payers and pledged continuous support especially in ledger reconciliation and fast tracking of their tax refunds.
“We recognize the fact that you still have issues with cleaning up of your ledger, however, I am sure this will be sorted because we have a project of cleaning up all ledgers especially of the large tax payers,” she said.
Meanwhile, Roofing’s presented its plan to invest in the iron ore that was recently discovered in South Western and Eastern Uganda and asked URA to support in the area of taxes that would relate to the project.
Roofings is Uganda’s largest producer of construction materials with a market coverage of 75% and growing exports of about 20%. The group has also supported Government projects including the Bujagali power station, Entebbe express highway, source of the Nile bridge among others.
