Government through the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development is proposing a tax of Shs100, 000 on each professional member seeking to acquire a professional license or verification.
This is one of the tax measures being muted to fund the Shs29 trillion 2020/2021 national budget.
This proposal is contained in one of the five bills that were tabled by Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija last week.
The Bills include; Income Tax Amendment Bill 2020, Stamp Duty Amendment Bill 2020, Value Added Tax Amendment Bill 2020, Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2020 and Appropriation Bill 2020.
Government argues that the objective of the Stamp Duty Amendment Bill 2020 is to amend the Stamp Duty Act, 2014, to provide for the payment of stamp duty on professional licenses or certificate and to clarify on the requirements for incentives on strategic investments projects.
The Ministry of Finance is proposing to amend the Stamp Duty Act, 2014, by inserting immediately after item 63 the following—“63A Professional licence or certificate 100,000.
Some of the professions that require practicing certificates and licenses include; lawyers, doctors, nurses, architects, civil engineers, accountants and teachers among others.
If approved by Parliament, it will mean that on top of the license fees these professional bodies require from their clients, Ugandans will have to pay Shs100,000.
