Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has seized six trucks carrying 1,900 bags of smuggled Simba cement, in the areas of Lwakhakha and Suam River in Bukwo district at the border of Uganda and Kenya.
According to Ibrahim Bbossa, the URA Spokesperson, 1,500 bags of the loot recovered, each weighing 50 kilograms, did not possess any digital tax stamps and had not met any customs obligations required of cement importers, which makes them smuggled goods. The remaining 400 bags of cement had digital tax stamps but were smuggled through porous border points.
“The trucks UBK148Z, UBK239P, UBB717U, UBN469B, UBN430K, and UBH412T moving from the Kenyan side were each smuggling 250 bags of unstamped cement. The two trucks, UBN308N and UBH736B, were smuggling 250 bags and 150 bags, respectively, of stamped cement,” Bbossa said.
Bbossa noted that even the bags of cement with stamps had no customs import documentation to indicate payment of tax dues.
He added that these trucks get one import document for one truck of cement, and they use it to smuggle in three or more trucks without meeting their customs tax obligations.
In Uganda, a taxpayer who fails to affix or activate a tax stamp is liable to a penal tax equivalent to double the tax due on the goods or UGX.50 million, whichever is higher, as stipulated under Section 19B (1) of the Tax Procedures Code Act (TPCA) 2014, 2.
Other enforcement measures include seizure of the goods, closure of business premises, and distress proceedings or prosecution.