Winnie Begumisa, the Tax Mamba: One female lawyer’s passion for tax law If “it is not the size of the dog in the fight, but rather the size of the fight in the dog” was a person, then probably, Winnie Begumisa would be that person. She may not be your 5 Star tax lawyer, yet, but her can-do attitude says a lot about her aspirations. Tax Mamba, is her other name online and if you are wondering why, a Mamba of all things, just like I was, she has an ambitious explanation.

“I read a book called Mamba Mentality by Kobe Bryant 2 years ago and it greatly shaped my thinking in terms of excellence in your field or passion. To be a Mamba means to be a ‘great’ in a field so I named myself ‘Tax Mamba’ not because I was the best, but to challenge myself to become that,” she explains, adding: “I am slowly working on that and we can take it as a prophetic declaration for my next great achievements in tax. It was a brave decision on my end but it wasn’t hard as I truly believe in myself and the reward of hard work coupled with humility to learn from seniors. Above all, God.”

In this interview with CEO East Africa’s Muhereza Kyamutetera, the feisty Winnie, gets to tell us more about her passion for tax, mankind and country. 

For starters, tell us about Winnie Begumisa; the person.

I am a happily married Advocate majoring in tax practice, specifically International Tax at the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), under the Large Tax Payers Office, where I am an Officer, International Tax. I previously worked with Libra Advocates under the mentorship of renowned tax guru, Joseph O. Okuja. While there for close to 2 years after LDC, I handled the firm’s tax litigation matters majorly at the Tax Appeals Tribunals where amongst many cases, won the landmark case of K-files v URA, which addressed wrongful application of payments towards principal tax, interest and penalty which was troubling many taxpayers.

I soon after joined URA in mid-2022 to appreciate international tax practice which is a more complex aspect of tax and not known/appreciated by many tax practitioners in Uganda. I hope to go back to my litigation practice which I enjoy, after getting experience in international tax.

Besides tax and the law, I enjoy going to church, shopping, swimming, food blogging and dining out. 

I hold a Bachelor of Laws from Makerere University (Hons), a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from LDC, a Postgraduate Diploma in Tax and Revenue Administration from East African School of Taxation, An Advanced Diploma in International Taxation (ADIT) from the Chartered Institute of Taxation UK and I am commencing a course in arbitration qualification next. 

For the uninitiated, what does your role involve? What do you do for the tax (wo)man?

I review associated party transactions to ensure compliance with the arms-length principle, I conduct transfer pricing audits, review cross-border transactions and implement emerging trends in international taxation such as  OECD’s Pillar 1 & 2, Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) Standards and taxation of the digital economy amongst others.

Tax is an unusual legal practice, how did you end up here? What made you like the practice?

I loved Mathematics from primary school and I’m a daughter of an accountant so it was not optional to fail the subject. Incidentally, I loved arguing/giving my opinion and realised becoming a lawyer was what I wanted to do to make my case for anything I was passionate about. While at university I noticed I was more interested in commercial law units like banking, and taxation and quickly concluded that taxation would best blend my passions of mathematics and the law.

My father is a former Commissioner at URA and seeing how intelligent he was discussing taxation matters for over 20 years while there, also challenged/ inspired me, given that most lawyers don’t appreciate tax. It implored me to join the few lawyers who understand tax such as Birungyi Cephas, and Godfrey Akena whose footsteps he encouraged me to follow on noticing my interest and the rarity of women in the field.

You started your journey on the private practice side and you have now crossed over to the tax (wo)man. Do you find any peculiar differences? What motivated you to cross over?

Yes, there are very significant differences given that the motive of my practice had to change. Anyone who has worked both for URA and in private practice can tell you there has to be a mindset shift which is valuable because it enables you to appreciate both perspectives. It would help you advise a client better on a provision requiring compliance, knowing that the government requires tax and URA has a target to achieve to liberate the country from economic dependence. Similarly, from private practice, one will note, when joining URA, that not all policies must pass. You become more considerate of taxpayers, well knowing that taxpayers are doing their best to comply and not all are tax literate. This comes in handy at mediation stages during audit and objection processes.

I was also motivated by my love for challenges and desire for knowledge. Once I appreciated the flow of tax litigation after LDC, I wanted to gain tax knowledge from the source itself. There was no better way to learn more about tax in one go than being in the tax authority.

Most lawyers don’t fully appreciate tax, and accountants are better advantaged because of their financial background which exposes them to important aspects of tax like financial statements. These aren’t easy to analyse for a lawyer without the help of an accountant or tax agent, so URA was my best shot at hands-on experience. 

Furthermore, international tax practice can only be appreciated at URA in my opinion, because it handles transfer pricing audits, and analyses various related party transactions amongst other aspects that aren’t singularly done in law firms or companies. Being in this unit gives me an invaluable appreciation of intra-group transactions for various sectors in areas like the application of intangibles, and functional analyses of multinationals which I have since learned.  

Relatedly, there is only a handful of tax practitioners and even fewer women- do you find it more fulfilling than other practices? Should we; and how can we encourage more women to join the practice?

Yes, I find this field very fulfilling mostly because it is challenging and I love a good brain challenge. Tax makes you think and keep abreast or alert lest you embarrass yourself or your client both accounting-wise and policy-wise. 

I definitely concur with encouraging more women to join the practice because the number of female tax practitioners is countable, of which only a handful are advocates. More women can be encouraged through career workshops at university, secondary school level and also professional body engagements. More women can also engage in writing articles or research work,  sharing their achievements amongst others so that more women are encouraged to join the field when they see such thriving women.

Your limitation is only your imagination.

Who inspires you? Who do you look up to?  

Both my parents. My father is astute and hardworking, very passionate about what he puts his mind to and highly disciplined. What he sets his mind to, he achieves. These are great qualities I use as well to ensure I achieve my goals.

My mother, on the other hand, is very calm, ardent about God, patient, polite, wise and slow to anger or attack. I blend her qualities to avoid being proud, become more emotionally intelligent and be aware of how my goals in life should not completely drive my life lest I become a workaholic yet there’s more to life than work. I found that their good qualities are worth modelling. 

If you’ve met Counsel Cephas Birungyi, of Birungyi, Barata and Associates, he too is a blend of these two characters. So professionally, he’d be my role model⏤ very hardworking yet heavily humble. 

What do you consider some of the greatest advice received and from whom? How did it help? 

“You have to make yourself / your work known because no one will do that for you. Your next client or referral could be anyone in your contact list or social media list so do not shy from sharing your skill set, knowledge and especially, achievements. It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out, for whatever you learn, share it. You’ll eventually become an expert by this.”

This was from Mr. Godfrey Akena during one of the classes I had at the East African School of Taxation. I began sharing URA’s and tax updates from that day and somehow became a bit known by those who found the knowledge useful and needed further clarity. 

Work can get busy and stretching. How do you stay sane in the fast lane? What’s your support mechanism? 

I take all my leave days and use them for rest or hobbies. I don’t carry work home so I leave work when I’ve done all I need to do for that day. I use my weekends to focus on other aspects of my life not just work. I make sure I utilise my 8-5 time well so I have adequate time for my husband/home too unless it is dearly required.

I also have a caring husband who prays over me and helps me manage any work stresses or difficulties which I’m thankful for. 

I serve in church too, which gives me a life balance.