OTT Tax Will Stop Today

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in Uganda news June 30, 2021

The social media tax known as the Over The Top (OTT) tax that came into existence in 2018 will cease to be charged today.

With effect from tomorrow (Thursday), Ugandans will access internet services and social media without OTT or the use of VPNs.

A good number of people protested the payment of the tax hence resorting to the use of Virtual Private Networks. These VPNs are capable of bypassing the blockages on social media thereby allowing one to use it without the OTT tax.

It is, however, not all beds and roses even though the over the top tax has been abolished by the government.

This is because it has imposed a 12% tax on internet data bundles in the new financial year which will start tomorrow, Thursday, July 1, 2021.

The 11th parliament abolished the OTT tax in the Excise Duty (Amendment) Act, 2021, and replaced it with excise duty on internet data.

When it came into existence in 2018, it caused a nationwide uproar and protests in Kampala led by Robert Kyagulanyi.

Following the uproar, the government proposed to drop the tax, saying Uganda Revenue Authority failed to hit the tax collection target from OTT.

That failed to happen because Ugandans resorted to the use of VPNs in order to bypass the government tax.

URA said in 2019 they had collected only Shs49.5 billion out of the targeted Shs284 billion from OTT for the financial year 2018/2019; a shortfall of 83%.

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