Tax incentives
Tax is a cost to business and is one of considerations when making a decision as to where to locate the investment. In order to attract investments, the government of Uganda offers a fair incentives package that provides generous capital recovery terms, especially if a project has significant investment in plant and machinery and its profits are to be got over the longer term.
Tax Incentives package
The incentives package is as follows:
1. Zero rate of tax on imports of plant machinery and equipment.
2. 7% Import duty on specialized tourist vehicles.
3. VAT Deferral facility for plant, machinery and specialized tourist vehicles
4. Guaranteed repatriation of profits and dividends.
5. Guarantee against non-commercial risks is through the multi-lateral investment guarantee agency (MIGA) of the World Bank.
6. Up to 100% foreign ownership of investments allowed,
7. Capital allowances of 50% on plant and machinery for projects located in Kampala, Entebbe, Namanve, Jinja and Njeru. Outside these areas the deductible allowance is 75%.
8. Start up costs allowance spread over the first 4 years at 25% per annum.
9. 100% allowance on scientific research expenditure and training expenditure also deductible once from the company’s income.
Non-fiscal incentives
The non-fiscal incentives include the following:
• subsidizing the building of infrastructure
• subsidizing the training of workers