By Niyonshima Joshua
Uganda Revenue Authority collected UGX 4,471,264,312 billion through cases settled out of court in the last quarter. URA’s Ag. Commissioner for Legal Services and Board Affairs, Stella Nyapendi said.
Nyapendi made this revelation while addressing the new members of the Tax Appeals Tribunal at the Judicial Training Institute in Nakawa. She said the revenue was collected from 16 cases settled through the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism (ADR).
Nyapendi’s revelation followed concerns from the members that ADR is taking over cases from the tribunal.
Alternative Dispute Resolution is a structured negotiation process outside adversarial litigation hurdles. It offers a round-table dialogue for taxpayers and URA to come to a settlement with the help of an intermediary who is neutral and trained in ADR techniques.
ADR is complementary to TAT and is aimed at reducing the case backlog at the tribunal. The mechanism also saves time for the aggrieved parties involved.
This achievement in a period of three months is testimony that resolving tax cases outside the perimeters of the law is effective and can open revenue locks.
