The Commercial Division of the High Court has dismissed with costs an application by Nile Breweries Uganda Limited seeking to halt the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) from enforcing the recovery of more than Shs18.5 billion in tax arrears.
In her ruling, Justice Susan Odongo held that the application was improper because the issues raised had already been conclusively determined by a court of competent jurisdiction. She noted that the earlier decision could not be reopened through a fresh application framed in slightly different terms.
“The dismissal of that application with costs in the cause… constituted a final and binding adjudication on the merits of the Applicant’s request for interim protection against URA’s enforcement actions,” Justice Odongo stated, adding that entertaining the new application would amount to allowing a matter that had already been decided to be litigated again.
The judge further cited the principle against re-litigating settled matters, observing that courts should not permit a party to be “twice vexed” over the same issue where a competent court had already ruled on it.
The dispute stems from a tax assessment made by URA in 2023, in which the brewer was found liable for Shs18.509 billion following a reassessment of its Value Added Tax (VAT) and Local Excise Duty obligations. URA concluded that certain products claimed as exports had not been properly proven as exported and were therefore subject to taxation.
Nile Breweries, which manufactures alcoholic beverages exported to markets including South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, had maintained that the disputed products were exported through agents, including Ituri Investments Limited and Kabaco Uganda Limited, and should therefore attract zero-rated tax treatment.
After contesting the assessment before the Tax Appeals Tribunal, the company was unsuccessful, with the tribunal ordering payment of the assessed taxes.
Dissatisfied, Nile Breweries escalated the matter to the High Court and also sought interim orders to stop URA from collecting the tax pending determination of its appeal. That request was previously rejected in March.
In the latest application, the brewer again sought to suspend enforcement of the tax demand, arguing that the earlier ruling did not fully address the request for a temporary injunction as distinct from a stay of execution.
However, Justice Odongo rejected that argument, stating that although the legal tests for the two remedies differ, the substance of the issue had already been directly addressed.
She ruled that the question of whether URA should be restrained from recovering the Shs18.5 billion had already been placed before Justice Abinyo in earlier proceedings and could not be reintroduced under a different procedural label.
The court consequently dismissed the application and ordered Nile Breweries to bear the costs of the case.
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