Chinese Company proprietors in Uganda have topped a list published by Uganda Revenue Authority on companies linked and engaged to fraudulent activities in regards to Value Added Tax (VAT). Out of the 148 companies that URA listed, 93 belong to foreigners, with at least 90 of those having Chinese directors.
Uganda Revenue Authority has recovered Ush 60 million from the VAT tax fraudsters and is set to commence criminal investigations against the listed companies for alleged tax fraud.
URA has cancelled registration of the implicated companies, annulled the input tax arising from the fictitious invoices by the accused companies, and revoked all Tax Clearance Certificates (TCC) it had issued to them in the 2017/2018 financial year.
Evading VAT obligations is estimated to have denied Ugandans at least Ush 200 billion in revenue between 2015 and 2017.
In the last at least 10 years, Chinese companies have set up shop in Uganda and are involved in different types of businesses, ranging from retail trade to handling major construction projects.
China is also one of Uganda’s largest sources of imports, with goods worth more than $800m imported from the economic giant every year. On the other hand, Uganda’s exports to China are valued at less than $50m annually.
