Revenue Authority (URA) has warned Kampala landlords against understating rental income, failing to file tax returns or avoiding the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS), saying such practices undermine tax compliance and amount to breaking the law.
The warning was issued on Thursday during a meeting between URA and ciry landlords at Mestil Hotel in Kampala, where URA sought to address persistent compliance challenges in the rental sector.
During the engagement, commissioner Domestic Taxes Denis Kugonza Kateeba said URA continues to encounter cases where landlords declare inaccurate rental income, make invalid tax claims and fail to issue receipts to tenants.
He said landlords must ensure that EFRIS records reflect actual tenancy agreements and rental payments, with receipts issued under the correct landlord or business entity, and that income declared to URA should also match the records generated through EFRIS.
However, landlords signalled their willingness to embrace the system.
Their chairman, Ambassador Godfrey Kirumira, said landlords understood that EFRIS was not a new tax but a digital mechanism for improving tax administration.
“We accept that the rental tax like other sectors must adopt to digital tax administration,” Kirumira said, pledging voluntary participation by landlords rather than waiting for enforcement.
URA Commissioner General John Rujoki Musinguzi welcomed the sector’s contribution to the economy, noting that real estate accounts for about 6 to 7% of Uganda’s GDP and supports employment and demand for construction materials.
He, however, said rental income tax collections fell by 1% in the 2025/26 financial year, against average growth of 14% across other major tax heads.
Musinguzi attributed the decline partly to compliance gaps and pledged to assign a technical team to help landlords overcome challenges in adopting EFRIS.
