Petroleum Resources Taxation Disputes:

Abstract

Following the discovery of commercial reserves of oil and gas in Uganda’s Albertine Graben, the Government of Uganda has taken various steps to progress development and production. One of the key issues that has already presented is disputes arising out of taxation in the oil and gas sector. Some delays in the development and production schedule have indeed been attributed to these disputes. If Uganda’s oil and gas is to be exploited optimally for the benefit of the country, taxation disputes have to be managed well. This calls for the need to have robust dispute resolution mechanisms in place. Given that the interests of the Government and those of International Oil Companies (IOCs) are usually at odds in petroleum resource taxation matters, a balance has to be struck. The thesis reviews the institutions and fora available as well as the different procedures that can be undertaken to handle and resolve tax disputes. It examines the challenges, constraints and setbacks that need to be addressed to ensure fairness and justice in tax administration. In light of the divergent Government and IOC interests, the paper applies the Sovereignty Theory on the one hand and the Global Economy Theory on the other and takes the view that to attract investment, a global approach ought to be adopted. The paper examines tax dispute resolution mechanisms in various other countries and makes several recommendations on how the tax dispute resolution mechanisms in Uganda can be improved.