URA audit in Uganda: what it is, what URA looks at, and how to respond
A URA audit checks whether your tax returns match your records and what URA knows from other sources. It can be a short desk audit or a full review across several years. What you send, and how you answer, shapes the result. We manage the audit with you, from the first letter to closure.
What is a URA tax audit?
An audit is URA examining your tax returns against your records: bank statements, invoices, payroll, contracts, EFRIS data and information from third parties. URA can audit up to five years back, and the law expects you to keep records for at least five years.
An audit ends in one of two ways. URA accepts your position, or it issues an assessment for more tax. If you disagree with an assessment, you have 45 days to object.
| Type of audit | What it covers | How it usually runs |
|---|---|---|
| Desk audit | A specific question about your returns | URA writes and asks for documents; little or no visit |
| Issue-based audit | One issue, such as VAT refunds or PAYE | Focused requests, often for several taxpayers with the same issue |
| Field audit | Your records at your premises | URA officers visit and examine records on site |
| Comprehensive audit | All your taxes, often for several years | Extensive field work and the longest timeline |
Audit rules in four facts
- Five years: URA can audit up to five years back, and you must keep records for at least five years.
- Any tax head: audits can cover income tax, VAT, PAYE and withholding tax, together or separately.
- 45 days to object after you receive an assessment.
- Third-party data: URA compares your returns with bank, EFRIS and other information it already holds.
Sources: Tax Procedures Code Act; URA objection and appeals guidance. Checked October 2026.
What URA looks at
Individuals
Rental income, business income, bank deposits that don't match declared income, and personal returns that were never filed.
Companies
Every tax head: sales against EFRIS and bank, payroll against PAYE, supplier payments against withholding tax, expenses without proper invoices, and directors' pay and loans.
Where audits go wrong
- Sending everything, unsorted, in the hope it helps
- Missing the deadlines in URA's letters
- Explaining figures verbally without documents to back them
- Agreeing to numbers in a meeting you haven't checked
- Ignoring the findings letter until it becomes an assessment
The cost of waiting: Each URA letter has a deadline. Missing one weakens your position, and an assessment you don't object to within 45 days usually becomes final.
We manage the audit with you, start to finish
We review
A prepaid review of the letter, your records and what's at stake, with a written plan.
We prepare and represent
We organise the documents URA asked for, answer its questions and attend meetings with you.
We close it
We negotiate the findings and, if needed, object to the assessment within the deadline.
- A written review of your exposure and a defence plan
- Document packs prepared for each URA request
- Representation at meetings with URA
- Written objections where the findings are wrong
- Every letter URA has sent you
- Your returns and records for the years in question
- The names of anyone at URA you've spoken to
Priced to your situation — not a rate card
Audit defence is scoped by the audit's breadth and the amounts at stake — quoted in writing after the review.
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URA audit questions, by stage
Jump to: Getting started · During the audit · After the audit · Working with us
Getting started
URA examining your returns against your records and information it holds from others, to confirm whether you paid the right tax.
URA selects taxpayers through risk checks, for example when returns don't match EFRIS, bank or third-party data, and sometimes for a sector-wide review. Being selected doesn't mean you've done anything wrong.
Normally three years from the return, with no limit where there's fraud, gross or wilful neglect, or new information. In practice URA reviews up to five years, which is also how long you must keep records.
Typically returns, books of account, bank statements, invoices, payroll records, contracts and EFRIS data for the period under review.
During the audit
You must provide what URA lawfully requests, organised, complete and on time. Since July 2023, information URA asks for during the audit and doesn't receive can't be used later at objection, except documents more than three years old. What goes to URA during the audit decides the case.
Yes. As your tax agent we handle the correspondence, prepare the documents and attend meetings with you.
Tell us early. We rebuild what we can from bank statements, supplier records and EFRIS, and explain the gaps properly. We quote the rebuilding after the review, by how complex the audit is and which documents have to be prepared.
A desk audit can be short. A comprehensive audit across several taxes and years takes much longer. Answering requests promptly keeps it moving.
After the audit
Check them before you accept anything. We review each finding against the law and your records, and respond in writing.
You have 45 days to object. Send us the assessment straight away so the objection is filed with evidence, in time.
Often, for older debts. Interest and penalties outstanding at 30 June 2025 may be waived if the principal tax is paid by 30 June 2027, and tax outstanding at 30 June 2016 may be waived in full. We check which apply to you and build them into the negotiation, so you know what you actually have to pay.
You can ask for ADR (a negotiated settlement with URA) or apply to the Tax Appeals Tribunal within 30 days of the objection decision.
Working with us
It starts with a review priced by the amount at stake: UGX 650,000 up to 50M, UGX 1,500,000 up to 200M, UGX 3,000,000 up to 1B and from UGX 5,000,000 above that, credited against representation. Representation is priced per tax head, per year or month under audit, by audit type: a desk audit from UGX 1,500,000, an issue-based audit from 2,500,000, a field audit from 4,000,000 and a comprehensive audit from 8,000,000. Up to three URA meetings are included.
Yes. Everything you share stays between you and us.
Send the letter now. Deadline work is priced at 1.25 times the normal fee, and we tell you before we start.
Related reading: URA sent you a letter? Here's exactly what to do (and not do) · The URA letter: the date matters more than the amount · The net is tightening: what URA already sees about your business
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