{"id":26645,"date":"2026-06-12T04:09:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T07:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=26645"},"modified":"2026-06-15T02:58:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T05:58:48","slug":"uganda-gambling-operators-face-june-30-tax-waiver-deadline-before-july-tax-overhaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/uganda-gambling-operators-face-june-30-tax-waiver-deadline-before-july-tax-overhaul","title":{"rendered":"Uganda gambling operators face June 30 tax waiver deadline before July tax overhaul\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Betting operators and casinos have until June 30 to clear outstanding gaming tax debts and secure a full waiver of interest and penalties before Uganda introduces new gambling taxes on July 1.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Uganda.- Uganda&#8217;s gambling operators have until June 30 to clear <strong>outstanding gaming tax debts<\/strong> and secure a full waiver of interest and penalties before a&nbsp;harmonised&nbsp;30 per cent gaming tax and a 15 per cent withholding tax on betting and <strong>gaming winnings<\/strong> take effect on July 1.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The deadline is linked to the <strong>Uganda Revenue Authority&#8217;s (URA) tax waiver<\/strong>&nbsp;programme, which allows taxpayers to settle outstanding principal domestic tax liabilities incurred up to June 30, 2024, and receive a full waiver of accumulated interest and penalties.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gaming tax is among the taxes covered by the initiative, making the&nbsp;programme&nbsp;particularly relevant to licensed betting operators, casinos and other gaming businesses seeking to regularise their tax affairs ahead of the <strong>incoming reforms<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the URA, taxpayers who fully settle qualifying principal tax liabilities before June 30, 2026, will&nbsp;benefit&nbsp;from a 100 per cent waiver of associated interest and penalties. Businesses making partial payments may also qualify for proportional relief based on the amount of principal tax paid, while the relief is applied automatically and does not require a separate application.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>URA Commissioner General <strong>John Rujoki Musinguzi <\/strong>said the&nbsp;programme&nbsp;offers businesses an opportunity to address outstanding liabilities before the deadline.&nbsp;&#8220;The new waiver is another opportunity government has given to taxpayers who have tax arrears to settle their liabilities without worrying about the burden of interest and penalties,&#8221; he said, according to Daily Monitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The authority has continued to promote the&nbsp;programme&nbsp;in recent weeks. In a social media post, URA warned taxpayers that there would be &#8220;No extensions. No extra time.&#8221; It added:&nbsp;&#8220;The URA Tax Waiver ends on June 30. Settle your outstanding principal tax now and have penalties and interest waived before the deadline&nbsp;passes.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"661\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/06\/UGANDA-DEADLINE-661x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26649\" srcset=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/06\/UGANDA-DEADLINE-661x600.jpg 661w, https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/06\/UGANDA-DEADLINE.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 661px) 100vw, 661px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The campaign also stressed that there would be &#8220;no July offer&#8221; and &#8220;no August extension&#8221;, underscoring the authority&#8217;s message that June 30 is the final opportunity for eligible taxpayers to&nbsp;benefit&nbsp;from the waiver&nbsp;programme.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tax overhaul deadline nears&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For gambling operators carrying outstanding gaming tax arrears, the timing is significant. The waiver expires one day before Uganda&#8217;s <strong>new gambling tax regime <\/strong>comes into force under the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2026 and the Lotteries and Gaming (Amendment) Bill 2026.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reforms introduce a&nbsp;harmonised&nbsp;30 per cent tax on betting and gaming activities, calculated on the total amount&nbsp;staked&nbsp;less payouts, and a 15 per cent withholding tax on winnings from gaming and betting. Recent guidance issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Uganda noted that the withholding tax applies to <strong>net winnings <\/strong>after deducting a player&#8217;s stake, while winnings from a licensed national lottery operator remain exempt from the withholding tax.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tax advisers, including PwC Uganda and Crowe Uganda, have urged businesses to review their <strong>compliance procedures<\/strong> and reporting systems ahead of the July 1 implementation date.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For operators with outstanding gaming tax liabilities, the final weeks of June represent a narrowing opportunity to clear arrears before entering a new tax and regulatory environment. Businesses that miss the June 30 deadline will remain liable for the full amount of outstanding interest and penalties attached to qualifying tax debts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the waiver&nbsp;programme&nbsp;expiring on June 30 and the new tax regime taking effect the following day, gambling operators face a narrowing window to resolve outstanding liabilities before Uganda&#8217;s latest gaming tax reforms come into force.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/South-Korean-casinos-allowed-to-postpone-sales-taxes-payment-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/uganda-gambling-operators-face-narrow-window-before-july-1-tax-rollout'>Uganda gambling operators face narrow window before July 1 tax rollout<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Betting operators and casinos have until June 30 to clear outstanding gaming tax debts and secure a full waiver of interest and penalties before Uganda introduces new gambling taxes on July 1.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2809,"featured_media":10942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Uganda's iGaming operators face a critical June 30 deadline to settle outstanding gaming tax liabilities, benefiting from a full waiver of interest and penalties, before a new harmonised 30% gaming tax and 15% withholding tax on winnings take effect on July 1. This initiative by the Uganda Revenue Authority aims to regularise tax affairs ahead of significant regulatory reforms, urging immediate compliance to avoid full penalties.","focusai_entities":"Uganda Revenue Authority, URA, John Rujoki Musinguzi, PricewaterhouseCoopers Uganda, PwC Uganda, Crowe Uganda, Daily Monitor","focusai_location":"Uganda","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), tech_data (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"GGR\/NGR Impact?","query":"How will the harmonised 30% gaming tax and 15% withholding tax on winnings impact the Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) and Net Gaming Revenue (NGR) projections for licensed operators in Uganda post-July 1, considering the exemption for national lottery winnings?"},{"label":"Compliance System Adjustments?","query":"What specific adjustments to existing financial reporting systems, player account management (PAM) platforms, and internal controls are recommended for Ugandan iGaming operators to ensure full compliance with the new tax regime by the July 1 deadline?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60013,60025,60020],"tags":[71,60033,60241,60411],"class_list":["post-26645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-africa","category-featured-article","category-legislation-news","tag-gambling","tag-regulation","tag-taxation","tag-uganda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2809"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26645"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26796,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26645\/revisions\/26796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}