The Tax Appeals Tribunal has dismissed Standard Chartered Bank’s appeal against a UGX 1.107bn withholding tax assessment issued by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), dealing the lender a setback in its dispute over cross-border banking charges.The case stemmed from transaction and account maintenance fees paid to foreign correspondent banks in the United States, Finland, Switzerland, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom between January 2016 and 2019.In 2019, Standard Chartered Bank filed a refund claim for overpaid income tax. In 2022, URA issued the bank with a tax audit management letter and an assessment of Shs 1.1 billion. On August 25, 2022, the bank objected to the assessment, arguing that the transaction fees charged by the correspondent banks did not constitute payment for services attracting withholding tax. On November 22, 2022, URA issued an objection decision dismissing the bank’s objections and maintaining the assessment on the basis that the bank had failed to provide sufficient evidence.Court documents show that URA conducted a refund audit on Standard Chartered and later issued an additional assessment of Shs 1.1 billion after the bank failed to declare withholding tax on transaction fees charged by foreign correspondent banks.Standard Chartered argued that the charges were passed on to customers, exempt as interest, covered by double taxation agreements, or time-barred.However, the Tribunal rejected those arguments and upheld URA’s position that the bank remained legally liable for withholding tax.The Tribunal found that Standard Chartered had not provided enough evidence to support its exemption claims and accepted URA’s classification of the payments as taxable technical fees. It also ruled that the assessment was not time-barred, noting that fresh information from a prior refund audit justified the review.Standard Chartered argued that the foreign banks holding the nostro accounts did not provide management services to the bank. “We accordingly find that the nostro account transaction fees constituted income derived from sources in Uganda,” said Tribunal Chairman Siraj Ali.The application was dismissed with costs awarded to URA.The post Standard Chartered Bank Hit with UGX 1.1bn Bill After Losing URA Tax Fight appeared first on Business Focus.