300 Firms In Uganda Register For Diesel Tax Waiver

By Eddyson Lugangwa Posted 30 March 2006 @ 02:08 pm EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

Nairobi (IBTimes.com) - Three hundred companies have registered to be considered for tax waivers on fuel used in generators but are frustrated by the Government's reluctance in effecting the requests.

We have made a tentative list of over three hundred companies that we submitted to the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), the finance ministry and the Prime Minister's Office. The members are anxiously waiting for the response,Joseph Oketcho, the Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) director for membership services, said on wednesday.

Oketcho said the Government had pledged to give a response within a week but none has been received. Only businesses with generators of up to 100KVA and above, may qualify for waivers.

Oketcho said not all the 700 UMA members would qualify, but more members of the private sector including schools, institutions of higher learning and all commercial enterprises not affiliated to UMA could also submit in their requests for tax waivers on diesel used in their generators provided they have generators with 100KVA and above.

He said the registration exercise followed a series of meetings between the Government, UMA, the Uganda Hotel Owners Association, foreign and local investors to find solution to power shortages.

Commercial enterprises, manufacturers, schools and universities have all resorted to using generators.
This is the argument for tax waivers on fuel used to run generators. Oketcho said the Government was supposed to identify the company to supply the diesel.

He also said that after identifying the supplier, Uganda Revenue Authority will go on to verify the generators whose companies applied for the tax waivers.