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Licensed Tax Agent · Registered with TARC, Uganda Revenue Authority · Since 2012
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Tax planning, explained and done properly

Tax planning in Uganda: pay what the law requires, and not a shilling more

Tax planning means arranging your affairs, lawfully, so you don't pay more tax than you have to: before a big purchase, a new contract, a payout to owners or the year end. The law draws a clear line between planning and avoidance, and we stay on the right side of it. We show you the options, with the numbers.

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Licensed Tax Agent (TARC) Individuals, businesses & NGOs Since 2012 · 75+ clients
The basics

Tax planning is choosing, before you act, the way of doing something that the law taxes least. Timing a purchase so capital allowances count this year, deciding how owners are paid, or structuring a contract so withholding and VAT are handled correctly are all planning.

It's legal when the arrangement is real and has a genuine purpose. Hiding income is evasion, a crime. And Uganda's Income Tax Act lets URA set aside arrangements made mainly to avoid tax. Good planning stays well inside those lines, and is written down.

Who it applies to

When planning pays most

Before big decisions

Buying vehicles, equipment or property, signing a large contract, or expanding.

Paying the owners

How directors and shareholders take money out: salary, dividends or loans, each taxed differently.

Near a threshold

Approaching UGX 150 million (the end of presumptive tax) or UGX 300 million (VAT registration).

Before the year end

There's still time to act on allowances, provisions and timing. After it closes, there isn't.

Individuals and companies

What planning looks at

For individuals

How you hold property, how you take income from your business, rental versus business income, and what happens when you sell.

For companies

Capital allowances, how owners are paid, contracts and withholding, VAT position, group arrangements, and timing around the year end.

Where it goes wrong

Where planning goes wrong

  • Planning after the year has closed
  • Copying an arrangement that suited someone else
  • Arrangements with no paperwork behind them
  • Saving one tax and triggering another
  • Arrangements whose only purpose is tax, which URA can set aside

The cost of waiting: Most planning chances close with the year end or the signing of a contract. Once a decision is made, the tax that follows from it is usually fixed.

How we help

We show you the options, in shillings

01

We review

A free 20-minute call about the decision ahead, then a paid planning review of your position and the options.

02

We model the options

Each option set out with its tax cost, risk and paperwork.

03

We help you do it

A written plan, and help putting it in place correctly.

What you receive
  • A written review of your current tax position
  • The options, each with its tax cost in shillings
  • A recommendation, and why
  • Help implementing it, with the paperwork
What we need from you
  • Your last returns and accounts
  • The decisions or changes you're planning
  • Ownership details of your business and property
Your personalized quote

Priced to your situation — not a rate card

Planning is scoped to the size and complexity of what we're planning — and judged against the savings it finds.

Licensed Tax Agent, registered with TARC under URA · Helping clients since 2012 · Rated 4.7 on Google

Questions

Tax planning questions, by situation

Jump to: Getting started · Common situations · Working with us

Getting started

Arranging your affairs before you act so that, within the law, you pay no more tax than you have to.

Yes, when the arrangement is genuine and has a real purpose. Evasion is a crime, and URA can set aside arrangements made mainly to avoid tax. We only recommend planning that stands up.

Before the decision: buying assets, signing contracts, paying owners, or reaching the year end.

It depends on your position. The review tells you, in shillings, before you commit to anything more.

Common situations

Salary, dividends and loans are taxed differently, and each has paperwork. We compare them for your figures.

Then transfer pricing applies. Dealings with related companies outside Uganda, of any size, and within Uganda above UGX 500M a year, need documentation showing they are at arm's length. Without it the penalty is UGX 50M or 2% of the tax involved, whichever is higher, and since August 2026 the burden of proof is expressly on you. We prepare the documentation, from UGX 50,000,000 in the first year.

Yes. Income from a business started by a citizen after 1 July 2025, with registered capital up to UGX 500M, is exempt from income tax for 3 years, if the conditions hold throughout: ownership, capital, no earlier use by you or your associates, and the right returns filed. Breaking them makes all the tax due. We set it up correctly and keep it safe for the 3 years.

Capital allowances depend on the asset and the timing. Planning the purchase can bring the tax relief forward.

Crossing these lines changes how you're taxed and whether you register for VAT. Planning ahead avoids a costly surprise.

Withholding tax, VAT and how payments are structured all matter. It's cheapest to get them right before you sign.

Working with us

It starts with a free 20-minute call, booked when you have a decision coming. The planning review is then UGX 750,000 for an individual, UGX 1,500,000 for a company with turnover up to UGX 500M, and from UGX 2,500,000 for larger companies and groups, credited against putting the plan in place. Transfer pricing documentation starts from UGX 50,000,000. A yearly refresh is 60% of the first review, and included for retainer clients.

A written view of your current position and the options, with the tax cost of each.

Yes. Everything you share stays between you and us.

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.

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