A consequential email has begun landing in the inboxes of Ugandan tax residents with money or assets abroad.
It is short, direct, and time-bound: Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) says it has picked up foreign income or assets linked to a taxpayer’s name and TIN, and the recipient must regularise their records within seven days, or face a formal investigation.
The notices open a new chapter in Uganda’s enforcement of the ‘worldwide income’ rule.
A Tax Alert on Global Income Declaration developed by Bruno Kalibbala, Bruno Amanya, Jasmine Shah, and Ankit Jangla from GrantThornton tax department, notes that the new direction is backed by the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters Implementation Act, 2023, which allows URA to receive financial information on Ugandan tax residents who hold accounts or assets in more than 125 partner jurisdictions.
In practice, the alert notes, URA no longer depends on voluntary disclosures, whistleblowers, or chance discoveries. It is working from verified cross-border data shared through international exchange systems.
Weak enforcement
For years, the law has required residents to declare foreign-sourced income. But enforcement was uneven, and many taxpayers treated offshore assets as distant, private, or simply outside URA’s reach.
That assumption is now collapsing. URA, it is understood, has started sending official notifications to individuals and companies, making it clear that their overseas wealth is now known and that their local tax declarations must be corrected.
At the centre of the push is a formal Foreign Assets Declaration process, for which anyone notified is expected to compile a full picture of offshore holdings: bank accounts, property, business interests, securities, pensions, and even cryptocurrencies, along with documents proving ownership, value, and income earned.
Declarations are filed through a URA portal under ‘Foreign Asset Disclosure’ and ‘Tax Investigations’, with provisions for individuals and companies, trusts, and partnerships.
URA acting commissioner for Tax Investigations Agnes Nabwire confirmed that they had already received many responses, including from resident taxpayers who have chosen to volunteer their global asset data.
She said once a taxpayer is notified, they have seven days from the day they receive the notice to rectify their tax records.
If they fail to respond within that window, they lose the waiver on interest and penalties. Such taxpayers, she added, ‘will undergo investigations.’
Nabwire declined to give more details, referring this reporter to assistant commissioner for Public and Corporate Affairs Robert Kalumba, who appeared unaware of the ongoing process.
The gap in emailing, however, suggests how quietly and quickly the operation is unfolding.
It also raises the risk for taxpayers who might ignore or miss a notice because it doesn’t come with a public warning.
However, Nabwire indicated that URA was working on a public notice that would come out soon.
Not a new tax
What URA is demanding is not a new law but new enforcement. The Income Tax Act defines resident gross income as income from all geographical sources and sets out who qualifies as a resident taxpayer.
The difference now is capability: URA is acting with foreign-supplied evidence and a tailored disclosure tool built specifically for global assets.
For the people receiving emails, the choice is immediate and personal.
Seven days is barely enough time to pull statements from foreign banks, trace ownership of property, or confirm the value of business shares abroad, especially when assets are spread across borders or held through intermediaries.
Yet that is the grace period before URA shifts from invitation to investigation, with the possibility of interest charges, administrative penalties, and legal action.
Tax residents with offshore income have entered a different era. Compliance is no longer optional, and invisibility is no longer guaranteed.
The email is the warning bell; the seven days are the last soft landing. After that, URA says, the hard questions begin.