Missing a Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) filing deadline is one of the most common — and most avoidable — ways a business ends up with penalties, interest charges, and unwanted attention from the tax authority. The good news: URA's filing calendar follows a predictable rhythm once you know what to look for.

The recurring filings every business should track

Most registered businesses in Uganda are managing several filing obligations at once, each on its own cycle:

  • VAT returns — for VAT-registered businesses, returns are filed monthly, reporting output and input tax for the period.
  • PAYE — employers withhold tax from staff salaries and remit it monthly, alongside NSSF contributions where applicable.
  • Withholding Tax (WHT) — deducted at source on qualifying payments and remitted to URA, with certificates issued to the payee.
  • Provisional and final Income Tax — provisional returns are estimated and filed early in the financial year, with the final return reconciling actual results afterward.
Exact due dates and thresholds can shift with each Finance Act, and they vary depending on your business's registration status and financial year-end. The safest approach is a filing calendar built specifically for your business, not a generic list.

What happens if you miss one

URA applies penalties and interest for late filing and late payment, and the amounts compound the longer a filing sits outstanding. Beyond the direct cost, an unresolved filing history can complicate tax clearance certificate applications, financing conversations with banks, and tender or contract eligibility.

How Frankmar Associates helps you stay ahead

Rather than reacting to deadlines as they arrive, we build clients a standing filing calendar mapped to their specific registrations — VAT, PAYE, WHT, and Income Tax — with reminders well ahead of each due date. Where a filing has already been missed, we handle the correction and, where possible, engage URA directly on penalty relief.