URA plans public auction of uncleared goods

URA says it will start showing the goods to the public from June 10 to June 14, 2019. The bidding process will be conducted between June 17 to June 21, 2019. The tax body usually sells goods that importers have failed to clear for failure to pay the corresponding taxes.

Some traders leave them intentionally because taxes are more than the value of the product – this usually applies to cars. In Uganda, the warehousing period of goods is 270 days except for goods in duty free shops, new motor vehicles, wines and spirits, which are warehoused for a maximum of two (2) years, according to URA.

If one fails to clear them in that period, URA puts them up for public auction to get the taxes that apply to them. The importer of the product is given the reminder of the money if URA manages to sell it at a price above the taxes it was hoping to get.    However, this happens on very rare cases.