You've outgrown small-business tax. Your compliance needs to grow with you.
Above UGX 150M turnover, presumptive tax ends and the full corporate regime begins: audited-quality accounts, IFRS-to-tax reconciliations, capital allowances, provisional tax, final returns. Done well, it's routine. Done casually, it's how audits start.
The full regime punishes improvisation.
Corporate income tax in Uganda is charged at 30% — but the number that matters is the one it's charged on. Getting from your accounting profit to your taxable income is a technical exercise: disallowable expenses added back, capital allowances computed on the correct pools at the correct rates, interest deductions capped at 30% of tax-EBITDA, losses carried forward under rules that changed in 2023.
This is where growing businesses get hurt. The accounts are prepared for the bank or the board, then someone “does the tax” as an afterthought. Deductions are claimed that the Income Tax Act disallows. Allowances are missed that would lawfully cut the bill. Provisional tax is underpaid, attracting interest. And every one of those errors sits in the return, waiting for the audit that businesses of this size eventually get.
We prepare the computation properly — the same way URA's own auditors will check it — because our founder spent close to a decade doing exactly that inside URA.
The cost of waiting: URA audit selection concentrates on businesses above the threshold with inconsistent filings. Errors in provisional tax alone accrue 2% monthly interest — and audit adjustments arrive with penalties attached, often years after the mistake.
What this can cost you
- Overpaid tax from missed capital allowances and lawful deductions
- Underpaid provisional tax accruing 2% monthly interest
- Disallowed expenses surfacing as audit adjustments with penalties
- Loss carry-forwards computed wrongly under the post-2023 rules
- Interest deductions exceeding the 30% tax-EBITDA cap, silently disallowed
- A return that invites audit instead of withstanding one
What people assume
“Our accountant prepares the financial statements — the tax return is just a copy of those numbers.”
What's actually true
Accounting profit and taxable income are different numbers by law. The return requires a reconciliation: add-backs, allowances, caps and carry-forwards under the Income Tax Act. A return filed straight from the accounts is almost always wrong in both directions — overpaying where allowances were missed, and exposed where disallowables slipped through.
What we handle for you
- Full IFRS-to-tax reconciliation and corporate tax computation
- Capital allowance schedules — correct pools, correct rates, no missed claims
- Provisional tax estimates and instalment management through the year
- Interest cap (30% tax-EBITDA) and loss carry-forward compliance
- The annual return, prepared, reviewed and filed on time
- Audit-readiness: every figure in the return traceable to evidence
A defined process, start to finish
We review
A diagnostic on your latest accounts and prior returns. We identify overpayments, exposures and the state of your provisional tax position.
We compute
The full reconciliation: add-backs, allowances, caps, carry-forwards. You see the computation and understand it before anything is filed.
We file & defend
Return filed on time with a complete supporting file. If URA ever queries it, the evidence is already organised — and we respond on your behalf.
Deliverables
- Corporate income tax computation with full workings
- Capital allowance register and schedules
- Provisional tax calendar and instalment computations
- Filed annual return with acknowledgment
- Audit-ready supporting file, indexed to the return
- A plain-language summary for directors and shareholders
Priced to your situation — not a rate card
Fees follow turnover and complexity — number of entities, transaction volume, and the state of prior years.
“Meet 'Mubiru Logistics' — crossed UGX 800M turnover but still filing like a small business. Our first-year review found three years of unclaimed capital allowances on their truck fleet worth UGX 94M in deductions, alongside a provisional tax gap quietly accruing interest. Net effect of doing it properly: a materially lower, safer tax position.”
Illustrative composite scenario reflecting real client patterns — details changed to protect confidentiality.
FAQs — Corporate Tax (Above UGX 150M)
30% of chargeable income for resident companies. The technical work is in computing chargeable income correctly — reconciling from accounting profit through add-backs, capital allowances, the interest cap and loss rules.
Companies estimate the year's tax and pay it in instalments during the year, with the balance at final return. Underestimating attracts interest, so the estimate deserves real attention — we manage the calendar and the computations.
The tax-law equivalent of depreciation: 40% reducing-balance on computers, 30% on manufacturing plant, 20% general pool, 5% straight-line on industrial buildings. In our experience most growing businesses under-claim — it's the most common money we find.
Since July 2023, after seven consecutive loss years only 50% of accumulated losses may be carried forward. Initial allowances were also abolished. If your computations still use the old rules, the return is wrong — we bring it current.
Very likely. The VAT registration threshold is UGX 250M annual turnover (effective 1 July 2026). Above it, registration, EFRIS and monthly VAT cycles are mandatory — see our EFRIS & VAT and Monthly Filing services, which most corporate clients combine with this one.
Not sure where you stand? Let's find out — before URA does it for you.
A 30-minute consultation tells you exactly where you stand, what it will cost to fix, and what happens if you wait. No obligation.