The URA letter: the date matters more than the amount

Most people who receive a URA assessment read the amount first and the date last. URA reads them the other way round. The amount can be argued. The date cannot.

The rule

A person who is dissatisfied with a tax decision may lodge an objection with the Commissioner General within forty-five days after receiving notice of the tax decision.
Tax Procedures Code Act, section 26 (Revised Edition 2023)

The mechanism

An assessment is a tax decision. The day it reaches you, a 45-day window opens, and the law counts from receipt, not from the date typed at the top of the letter. If nothing is lodged inside that window, the assessment stands as issued. The figures in it become the debt, whether they are right or not, and every later stage (ADR, the Tribunal, the High Court) begins by asking the same question: was the objection in time.

An objection is not a complaint or a phone call. It is a written document that states the grounds and attaches the evidence, lodged with the Commissioner. URA can extend the window on a written application if it is satisfied with your reasons, but an extension is asked for, never assumed.

The three windows

Think like the officer who will check the file. The test has three elements, and each one is a date.

1. The objection. 45 days from the day you received the assessment. Grounds in writing, evidence attached. The 45 days exclude the day you receive the notice, so day 1 is the next day. If day 45 falls on a Sunday or a public holiday, the deadline moves to the next day that is neither; a Saturday does not move it (Interpretation Act, section 34). Do not wait for day 45. Lodge early.
2. The objection decision. URA answers in writing. Two new windows open from the day you are served with that decision.
3. After the decision. You may ask the Commissioner for alternative dispute resolution, and you may apply to the Tax Appeals Tribunal. Each has its own time limit, which we confirm for you. Waiting for ADR is a risky reason for being late. In the Tribunal rulings we have read, applications that leaned on it were usually refused, though the position is not settled. File on time even while ADR is running.

The number

45 days. That is the whole window for the first and most important document in the dispute.

What goes wrong, in practice

Three patterns come up again and again.

• The letter is received by a receptionist or a relative and sits for days before the owner sees it. The 45 days were already running.
• The taxpayer writes to URA to “discuss” the figures and treats the exchange of emails as an objection. It is not one, unless it states grounds and is lodged as one.
• The taxpayer applies for ADR, feels the matter is being handled, and lets the Tribunal window close. The Tribunal then has no application before it to hear.

The verdict

If you are holding a URA assessment today, the first thing to establish is the day you received it, and the second is the day 45 days later. Everything else, including whether the amount is wrong, is argued inside that window or not at all.

The next move

WhatsApp us a photo of the letter on +256 773 987 457 and we will tell you the deadline date and whether the grounds are worth lodging, for free, within one business day. General guidance, not advice for your case.

Related: URA Audit Defence · Objections, ADR & Tax Appeals · Uganda Tax Calendar 2026/27

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