Daily Monitor Friday May 07 2021 Tax disputes by their nature tend to overwhelm even seasoned taxpayers, with a sense of helplessness. This is because they set a taxpayer against the government which considers outstanding taxes as debts owed to government. Under the Tax Procedures Code (Amendment) Bill 2021, the government has proposed to introduce Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms for resolving tax disputes before the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA). Simply put, ADR refers to the use of mechanisms other than the conventional methods like courts to resolve disputes. Some of the existing ADR mechanisms include negotiation, mediation, arbitration, conciliation, among others. If the proposal is passed into law, a taxpayer who is dissatisfied with a URA decision may apply to the commissioner to use ADR to resolve the tax dispute. The responsible minister (through detailed regulations) will specify the ADR mechanisms that will be available and the modalities of their usage by taxpayers.