Jurisdiction: Uganda · Decision: Commercial Court, Civil Appeal No. 26 of 2022 · Judgment date: 11 June 2026 · FGL review: September 2026 Uganda's Commercial Court has upheld a VAT assessment of UGX 3,482,492,210 against Ernst & Young Uganda in a dispute over services received from non-resident group entities and other foreign service providers. The decision is important because it gives businesses a current judicial example of how Uganda's imported-services VAT rules can apply to cross-border support, technology and professional-service arrangements. What the case was about In Ernst and Young v Uganda Revenue Authority , Civil Appeal No. 26 of 2022, the dispute concerned services obtained from entities outside Uganda, including members of the wider EY network and third-party foreign suppliers. URA treated the services as imported services and assessed VAT for the period January 2014 to June 2018. EY challenged the treatment, including arguments about where the s...

Uganda's Financial Year 2026/27 Budget is more useful to a finance team when it is read in two layers: first as a statement of Government policy and spending priorities, and second as a set of tax and compliance changes that must be implemented in day-to-day systems, payroll, invoicing and reporting. The Budget Speech was delivered to Parliament on 11 June 2026. The final resource envelope is approximately UGX 84.39 trillion , including domestic revenues of about UGX 45.96 trillion, of which roughly UGX 40.16 trillion is tax revenue. The Government's stated development priorities continue to centre on agro-industrialisation, tourism, mineral-based industrial development, and science, technology and innovation. FGL review: September 2026. This article reflects the enacted and operational position reviewed after the Budget Speech, rather than treating every proposal announced in June as automatically final law. The Budget Speech Is Not the Same Thing as the Final Tax Law ...

Jurisdiction: Uganda · Topic: VAT on imported services · FGL review: September 2026 Ugandan businesses increasingly buy software, cloud hosting, consulting, legal support, advertising, technical assistance and group services from suppliers outside Uganda. A foreign supplier may not charge Ugandan VAT on its invoice, but that does not necessarily mean the transaction is outside Uganda's VAT system. What is an imported service? Uganda's VAT framework imposes VAT on a supply of imported services other than an exempt service, with the tax payable by the person receiving the supply. In practical terms, this can capture services supplied by a non-resident provider and utilised or consumed by a recipient in Uganda. The 2026 decisions in Ernst and Young v URA and Sogea Satom v URA reinforce the importance of looking at the substance of the service and where the benefit is received, rather than assuming that an offshore contract or remote delivery keeps the transactio...

Jurisdiction: Uganda · Topic: VAT registration and EFRIS · FGL review: September 2026 Not every business in Uganda is automatically required to register for VAT. The key starting point is whether the person is making taxable supplies and whether the statutory registration threshold has been met or is expected to be met. VAT registration and EFRIS are related, but they are not the same thing. VAT is a tax regime. EFRIS is an electronic invoicing and receipting system used by URA for transaction reporting and compliance. What is VAT in Uganda? Value Added Tax is an indirect tax charged on taxable supplies made by taxable persons, on taxable imports of goods and on imported services that are not exempt. Uganda's standard VAT rate is generally 18%, while some supplies are zero-rated at 0% and others are exempt under the VAT Act. Who must register for VAT? Under the current VAT Act and URA guidance, the annual registration threshold is UGX 300 million of taxable s...