Uganda doubles VAT threshold to UGX 300m; small firms may deregister

Uganda doubles VAT threshold to UGX 300m; small firms may deregister

2 November 2026: Uganda's annual VAT registration threshold doubled from UGX 150,000,000 to UGX 300,000,000 with effect from 1 July 2026, and the Uganda Revenue Authority has now told registered businesses below the new line what that means for them. They can apply to leave VAT, or stay in and keep every obligation, including issuing invoices through EFRIS, the authority's electronic invoicing system.

Not yet independently verified. The notice does not name the law that raised the threshold or give a deadline for applying to deregister. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

URA first published the notice on Friday 30 October and posted it again on its website on 2 November.

Three routes for businesses under the new line

A VAT-registered business whose annual turnover is below UGX 300 million has, in URA's words, three outcomes:

• submit a written application to URA for VAT de-registration;
• remain registered voluntarily, filing VAT returns, paying any tax due, issuing EFRIS invoices and keeping proper records;
• be de-registered by the Commissioner General if it stays registered but does not meet those obligations.

Doing nothing counts as a choice. The notice says taxpayers below the threshold "who do not apply for VAT de-registration will be considered to have opted to remain voluntarily registered".

What leaving VAT changes

A business that deregisters stops charging VAT on its sales and stops filing VAT returns, so its EFRIS invoicing obligation for VAT goes with it. It also stops reclaiming the VAT it pays on purchases, which matters for firms with heavy input costs or customers who are themselves VAT-registered and expect a tax invoice. Those are the trade-offs a small software reseller, IT services firm or agency in Kampala has to weigh before writing to URA.

A business that stays registered keeps its current set-up: EFRIS remains the way it issues invoices, whether through URA's own tools or through accounting or point-of-sale software from one of the integrators URA accredits and lists on its website.

What the notice leaves open

URA does not name the Finance Act or amendment behind the change, gives no closing date for de-registration applications, and does not say whether a business that turned over between UGX 150 million and UGX 300 million since July can recover VAT it has already charged. The notice directs questions to URA's toll-free lines, 0800117000 and 0800217000, and to services@ura.go.ug.

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Sources

• Uganda Revenue Authority: Revised value added tax registration threshold, 30 October 2026