Which taxes apply to you?
Most people don't pay the wrong amount. They pay nothing at all — because nobody ever told them the tax existed. Answer a few plain questions. No tax words. We'll tell you what applies to you, why, and when.
Already know what you need?
The calculator centre
Thirty-seven calculators. Most of them do not exist anywhere else in Uganda. Every one shows its working and cites the law it came from. If we are not sure, it refuses to give you a number.
Don't know which you need?
Search in plain words. You do not need to know the name of the tax — that is rather the point.
Your taxes
The working
Your salary
Your sales
Your invoices
Your sales
Money you already owe
Your profit
Everyone assumes a company pays more tax. Up to a point the opposite is true — and the point is exactly computable.
Taking money out
We will not tell you what to do. We will price every route and show you what each one requires of you.
Four questions
Your certificate
A spotless company is still refused if one director hasn't filed. Try unticking Director 2.
What they take home
Every employer has had this conversation. Nobody has a tool for it — so everyone guesses, and guesses low.
The hire
Leave severance at 0 if your contract is silent. The law in force fixes no figure — and the Act that would is signed but not yet in force.
Your company's year
Past 7 years, only half your brought-forward loss is deductible (s.36(6)). Try 80,000,000 over 9 years. There is no minimum tax — Parliament deleted it.
Your year
Presumptive tax is charged on turnover. It punishes a thin margin. You may elect out — in writing.
Your property
As an individual you get no deduction for expenses at all. Untick to see what a company would pay.
The payment
If you fail to withhold, URA does not chase your supplier. It chases you.
The invoice
To strip VAT out you multiply by 18 ÷ 118 — not by 18%. That error is worth 2.7% of every invoice.
Coming off VAT
There is a 75,000,000-wide trap here where you are neither required to register nor entitled to leave. The default figures put you in it.
The arrear
Disclose before proceedings start and the Commissioner may waive the interest and the fine entirely. May. Not must.
The company car
URA's own page is nine years out of date here — it omits the 35% depreciation. Follow URA and you over-tax from year two.
Housing you provide
There is no gross-up. The widely-repeated 17.647% instruction over-taxes. URA's own worked example proves it.
A loan to your employee
The Act says "the BoU discount rate". BoU publishes three rates and calls none of them that. We use 9.75% and we tell you it's an interpretation.
The final payment
Gratuity is fully taxable. The 25% relief is for termination compensation only. RSM's published guide gets this wrong.
Two jobs
A second job is taxed at a flat 30% — no tax-free band, no lower steps. And you can claim the overpayment back. Almost nobody does.
An asset you bought
The 50% initial allowance is abolished (1 July 2023). Any model built on a first-year 50% write-off is badly overstating your relief.
Setting up
Incorporation, licences, legal fees, initial research. 25% a year for four years (s.29). Almost every Ugandan accountant expenses it once and loses three quarters of it.
Paying as you go
Understate the estimate below 90% of actual and TPCA s.60 charges 20% of the gap. Farming is carved out entirely.
What you spent (VAT-exclusive, UGX)
🔑 Only 10% of telephone VAT is blocked. Ninety percent is recoverable. Most businesses claim all of it (wrong) or none of it (poorer).
Your vehicles
🔑 Loading capacity, not gross weight. Nearly every published guide implies gross — and overstates your tax.
The document
🔴 The 2026 Bill doubles the transfer rate to 3% — but KPMG's list of what Parliament passed doesn't mention it. We compute the verified rate and tell you to get the gazetted Act.
The loan you were offered
🔴 A flat rate is not the rate you pay. 18% flat is really about 31%. Untick to compare.
Saving up
Always look at the second number — what it will actually buy.
Retiring
🔑 Your employer's 10% is exempt going in and exempt coming out. No other shilling in the tax code is treated this kindly.
If the income stopped
Essentials — not spending. Not airtime, not eating out. What you could not stop.
The treasury bill
The advertised yield is before tax. Government securities carry 20% WHT — not the 15% on bank interest.
Buying a home
This is the maximum, not the target. Ugandan mortgage rates are usually variable. Borrow less than you can.
What is it worth?
🔴 We will not give you a price. A business is worth what someone will pay. Every method here starts the conversation; none of them ends it.
Your people
One law is signed but not in force. Tell us your staff and we will tell you what it would cost the day it lands. This is not a liability. It is a number you should be able to say out loud in a board meeting.