Uganda is introducing a 5%levy levy on digital services income received by non-resident providers operating in the country.
The new tax, in the new Income Tax Bill, which is in addition to Uganda’s 18%VAT on digital services, as the government seeks to collect additional revenue from multinationals such as Facebook, Amazon, Google and Netflix.
According to media reports, The Uganda Revenue Authority hopes to collectUsh.5B(about Ksh.190M) from the companies.
The Bill outlines services subject to DST as online advertising services, data services, services delivered through an online marketplace, including an accommodation online market place, vehicle hire online market place, and any other transport online marketplace.
Digital content service, including accessing and downloading digital content, will also be taxed, alongside gaming services, cloud computing services, data warehousing ad services” delivered through a social media platform or an internet search engine, and any other digital services as the Minister may prescribe by statutory instrument.”
The proposal had been denied by Parliament however Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni last week returned it to legislators demanding it be revised.
In Kenya, both resident and non-resident digital service and digital marketplace providers pay a DST of 1.5% of the gross transaction value. This is in addition to a 16% VAT.
Also Read: 2023’S Naked Bike Riding Event Takes Place On August 26
