Vehicle Import Duty - Car Imports Registration Clearance One of the most common questions is how the duty and related taxes of an imported car is calculated. Depreciation of the car is one of the major factors that will influence the duty; Depreciation is determined from the year the vehicle was manufacture and the first date of registration of the car you intend to import.
Imported vehicles will attract duties as follows.
Import Duty: 25% of the CIF value of the vehicle
Excise Duty: 20% of the (CIF value + Import Duty)
VAT: 16% of the (CIF value + Import Duty + Excise Duty)
IDF: 2.25% of the CIF value or Ksh. 5,000, whichever is higher, is payable.
CIF – This is the customs value of the vehicle i.e. the Cost, Insurance & Freight paid for the vehicle.
Ugandan citizens just like any other in Africa’s developing countries prefer importing cars especially from Japan. The cars may be new or used hence some regulations have been put in place to manage this process. There is no age restriction for cars imported in Uganda. Both Left and Right hand drive vehicles are permitted. However, there is the compulsory inspection of the car to ensure it
meets certain standards. Used cars must undergo a “Road Worthiness
Inspection” performed by JEVIC. The inspection ensures the car has
genuine mileage, tires, brakes and lights are in good condition. The car
must not be hostile to the environment like emitting toxic gases due to
malfunctioning engine and rusted parts.
The person importing the car may use either the port of Mombasa in Kenya
or Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania since Uganda is a land locked country.
There is no much difference in terms of cost between the ports and the
option is merely based on the importer’s preference. The importer may
choose to follow the procedures personally or use an agent for
clearance. In addition to the JEVIC inspection which verifies
suitability of the car, there are documents and payments needed to
facilitate clearance. The road worthiness inspection is conducted to
prevent dumping of unroadwothy vehicles into the country which not only
poses a threat to the life of citizens but also may be a great threat to
the environment. This is especially due to the reason that there is no
age limit on the cars imported.
Taxation on importing used cars in Uganda
The dutiable value on imported cars in Uganda is determined in
accordance with The General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (G.A.T.T)
valuation method. The taxes include an import duty of 15% of dutiable
value; Value added tax (VAT) is 17% of VAT value, 2% import commission
of Dutiable Value, Withholding Tax is 6% of Dutiable Value and there is
an excise duty of 10% on selected cases.
Some of the documents required in clearance of the imported vehicles include: Original bills of lading,
inventory in triplicate, the consignee’s original passport, an invoice
or valuation for the vehicle and original logbook of the car. These
measures are put in place to protect tax evasion by some unscrupulous
citizens.