On 30 March 2023, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of Uganda issued Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2023. Under the bill, Uganda proposes a 5% digital service tax (DST) on every non-resident person deriving income from providing digital services in Uganda. After the final approval, the measure will take effect from 1 July 2023.
Income is derived from providing a digital service to a customer in Uganda, if the digital service is delivered over the internet, electronic network or an online platform. The DST covers the following services:
- online advertising services;
- data services;
- services delivered through an online market place or intermediation platform, including an accommodation online market place, a vehicle hire online market place and any other transport online market place;
- digital content services, including accessing and downloading of digital content;
- online gaming services;
- cloud computing services;
- data ware housing;
- services, other than those services in this subsection, delivered through a social media platform or an internet search engine; and
- any other digital services as the Minister may prescribe by statutory instrument made under this Act.
