Business profit calculator for Uganda

Short answer: net profit is your sales, minus the cost of what you sold, minus your monthly running costs and any tax. A local food restaurant selling UGX 5,200,000 a month with food costs of 54 percent and UGX 1,205,000 of running costs makes UGX 1,187,000 a month before tax, a net margin of 22.8%. Your own figures below.

How the calculator works

Every result above is plain arithmetic on your own figures. The only outside numbers are URA's presumptive tax table, used only when you switch the tax line on, and the four examples, both taken from our research checked on 19 September 2026.

Amounts are rounded to the nearest shilling, and percentages and months to one decimal place. Break-even leaves the tax line out on purpose. Presumptive tax is charged on sales, not on profit, and URA allows no deduction for expenses or losses under it, so a business that only breaks even can still owe it once yearly sales pass UGX 10 million.

Healthy, thin or losing money: where the lines sit

There is no official profit margin for a healthy Ugandan business, so this calculator uses three plain lines on the net margin and tells you which one your figures fall on.

• Losing money: net profit below zero. The costs are bigger than what the sales leave behind.
• Thin: a net margin from zero up to just under 10%. The business pays its way, but a slow month or a price rise can wipe out the profit.
• Healthy: a net margin of 10% or more.

We drew the 10% line from our own September 2026 costings of 36 small and mid-sized business ideas in Uganda. Their net margins ran from 6.2% for a neighbourhood mini mart to 74.5% for a boda boda hired out to a rider. The three ideas our research described as having very thin margins, egg supply at 7.4%, a grocery kiosk at 6.5% and broiler chickens at 6.8%, all sat under 8%. This is our reading line, not an industry standard. A mini mart can live on a thin margin because it sells a lot every day; a business with few, irregular sales cannot.

Worked example: a local food restaurant with the tax line on

Load the local food restaurant example above, then switch the tax line on and keep Presumptive tax, I keep records. These are the steps the calculator follows.

1. Sales: 40 plates a day for 26 days is 1,040 plates, at UGX 5,000 each, so UGX 5,200,000 a month.
2. Gross profit: food costs 54% of sales, UGX 2,808,000, which leaves UGX 2,392,000. The gross margin is 46.0%.
3. Running costs: rent 300,000, two helpers 780,000, water and electricity 100,000, phone data 20,000 and the licence spread over 12 months 5,000, so UGX 1,205,000. Net profit before tax is UGX 1,187,000, a net margin of 22.8%.
4. Tax line: yearly sales are 5,200,000 × 12 = UGX 62,400,000, in URA's band above 50 million up to 80 million. With records that is UGX 180,000 + 0.6% of the 12,400,000 above 50 million = UGX 254,400 a year, or UGX 21,200 a month.
5. Net profit after the tax line: 1,187,000 minus 21,200 = UGX 1,165,800 a month, a net margin of 22.4%. Reading: healthy.
6. Break-even: 1,205,000 ÷ 46% = UGX 2,619,565 a month, about 524 plates, or just over 20 a day across 26 days.
7. Payback: the UGX 2,987,000 start-up ÷ 1,165,800 = 2.6 months.

Our research marks the plate price and food cost as estimates, so treat this as a starting point and replace them with what your own kitchen spends and charges.

The four examples, from our research

Each example uses the numbers in our research sheets exactly, checked on 19 September 2026, with the monthly costs sorted into the calculator's boxes. Profits are before income tax, and the start-up and sales figures are estimates for a first-year operator, deliberately on the cautious side.

Our research rates the chips stall figures as low confidence, because the potato price is the weakest number, and the other three as medium confidence. For more ideas with every start-up item costed, see business ideas in Uganda, or go by budget: UGX 1 million, UGX 5 million or UGX 10 million.

When the answer changes

• Stock and float are capital, not spending. Payback here divides all of your start-up capital by monthly profit. In the mini mart example about UGX 5.8 million of the UGX 9,824,000 start-up is stock that stays in the business, so the money actually spent, about UGX 4 million, comes back much sooner than 21.2 months. The same goes for a mobile money agent's float: only the commission is income.
• Your own pay. If you work in the business and leave your own wage out, net profit is what you take home for your labour, not profit on top of a salary. Put a fixed wage for yourself in the wages box to see what the business earns beyond it.
• Staff. An employer pays NSSF of 10% of gross pay on top of wages and deducts 5% from the worker. Since the NSSF (Amendment) Act 2022 this applies even with one employee, so add the 10% to the wages box.
• Yearly fees. The KCCA trading licence and local service tax are paid once a year. Divide them by 12 and add them to other monthly costs, as the four examples do for the licence.
• Yearly sales above UGX 10 million or 150 million. Presumptive tax starts above UGX 10 million a year. Above UGX 150 million it stops and normal income tax on profit applies: companies pay 30% of chargeable income, and sole traders pay the individual rates.
• VAT. A VAT-registered business collects 18% VAT for URA, so enter sales without it. Our VAT calculator for Uganda takes the VAT out of a VAT-inclusive total. The registration threshold is reported as UGX 300 million a year from 1 July 2026; confirm it with URA.
• Prices move. Annual inflation in Uganda rose to 4.1% in August 2026, led by food items such as rice, maize, matooke and Irish potatoes. If you sell food, check your cost of goods percentage every month rather than once a year.
• The first months. A new business rarely sells at full volume from day one. Our research notes that a new barbershop may take 3 to 6 months to reach 12 cuts a day, so run the calculator at your early sales as well as your target.

Rules and figures this page uses, and when we checked them

Every rule and figure on this page comes from the sources below. Where sources disagreed, or a figure is not confirmed, it says so. This explains the rules; it is not tax or legal advice, and URA gives rulings on tax.

• Who pays presumptive taxUGX 10M to 150M a year

  A small business taxpayer is one whose yearly turnover is not above UGX 150,000,000. Presumptive tax is paid only where yearly turnover is above UGX 10,000,000; at or below that it is nil.

  Source: URA, small business page. Checked 19 September 2026.

• Presumptive tax amountsYearly, by band

  Yearly sales	With records	Without records
  Up to UGX 10,000,000	Nil	Nil
  Above 10M up to 30M	0.4% of sales above UGX 10,000,000	UGX 80,000
  Above 30M up to 50M	UGX 80,000 + 0.5% of sales above UGX 30,000,000	UGX 200,000
  Above 50M up to 80M	UGX 180,000 + 0.6% of sales above UGX 50,000,000	UGX 400,000
  Above 80M up to 150M	UGX 360,000 + 0.7% of sales above UGX 80,000,000	UGX 900,000

  No change to the presumptive regime was found in the 2026 Tax Amendment Acts, effective 1 July 2026.

  Source: URA, small business page and URA, The Taxman (11 November 2022). Checked 19 September 2026.

• Presumptive tax is a final taxNo deductions

  Under presumptive tax no deductions are allowed for business expenses or losses, and no credits apply except withholding tax and provisional tax already paid.

  Source: URA, The Taxman (11 November 2022). Checked 19 September 2026.

• Who cannot use presumptive tax Confirm with URAProfessionals

  URA lists medical, dental, architectural, engineering and accounting practices as excluded. Summaries of the Income Tax Act also exclude legal and other professional services, public entertainment, public utility and construction services; we could not read the Act itself, so confirm the full list with URA.

  Source: URA, small business page. Checked 19 September 2026.

• A table not to use1% to 3% bands

  A different four-band table with rates of 1%, 1.5%, 2% and 3% circulates online. It does not match URA's published table, so this calculator does not use it.

  Compared against URA's table above. Checked 19 September 2026.

• Above UGX 150 million a year30% for companies

  Normal income tax on profit applies instead of presumptive tax: companies pay 30% of chargeable income and sole traders pay the individual rates. From 1 July 2026 the first UGX 335,000 a month (UGX 4,020,000 a year) of a resident individual's income is tax free.

  Source: PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries and EY tax alert (11 June 2026). Checked 19 September 2026.

• VAT registration threshold Confirm with URAUGX 300M a year

  Reports of the 2026 amendment give UGX 300 million a year from 1 July 2026, up from UGX 150 million. An earlier version of the Bill proposed UGX 250 million, and we did not find a URA page with the new figure. The standard VAT rate is 18%.

  Source: EY tax alert (11 June 2026), Daily Monitor (11 August 2026) and the RSM Uganda Tax Guide 2025/26 for the rate. Checked 19 September 2026.

• EFRIS e-receipts12 sectors

  All VAT-registered taxpayers must issue e-invoices or e-receipts through EFRIS. From 1 July 2025 so must businesses in 12 listed sectors, including manufacturing, construction, transport and storage, accommodation and food service, ICT, real estate and professional services, unless their yearly turnover is below UGX 10 million.

  Source: URA notice on additional EFRIS taxpayers (10 August 2026). Checked 19 September 2026.

• NSSF10% + 5%

  Contributions are 15% of gross monthly pay: 10% paid by the employer and 5% deducted from the employee, due by the 15th of the following month. Since the NSSF (Amendment) Act 2022 every employer must register and contribute, whatever the number of employees.

  Source: RSM Uganda Tax Guide 2025/26 and The Independent (2023). Checked 19 September 2026.

• KCCA trading licenceYearly, by grade

  A kiosk pays UGX 6,000 to 75,000 a year, a general retailer UGX 31,500 to 210,000 and a restaurant UGX 36,000 to 187,500, depending on the grade of the area. KCCA's rates page is undated, and towns outside Kampala set their own rates.

  Source: KCCA trading licence rates. Checked 19 September 2026.

• Local service tax for business ownersUGX 5,000 to 100,000

  In Kampala, business owners pay local service tax once a year, set by monthly turnover: UGX 5,000 at UGX 500,000 to 1,000,000 a month, rising to UGX 100,000 above UGX 10,000,000 a month. Councils outside Kampala may work it out differently, so check with yours.

  Source: KCCA local service tax FAQs (February 2017). Checked 19 September 2026.

• Shop rent in Kampala suburbsUGX 250,000 to 500,000

  The cheapest suburban shops were listed at about UGX 250,000 to 500,000 a month, for example 250,000 on Ntinda-Kisaasi Road, 300,000 to 500,000 in Kyaliwajala and 400,000 to 450,000 in Kireka and Naalya. These are asking prices on a classifieds site, not a survey.

  Source: Jiji shop listings seen 19 September 2026.

• Commercial electricityUGX 562.1 per kWh

  Commercial customers paid an average of UGX 562.1 per kWh in July to September 2026 under tariffs approved by the Electricity Regulatory Authority, which reviews them every quarter.

  Source: ERA (7 July 2026). Checked 19 September 2026.

• Inflation4.1% in August 2026

  Uganda's annual inflation rose to 4.1% in August 2026, driven by food items including rice, maize grain, matooke and Irish potatoes. This is the UBOS figure as reported in the press; confirm it on ubos.org.

  Source: SoftPower (September 2026). Checked 19 September 2026.

Get these numbers from your till, not from memory

A calculator is only as good as the figures you type into it. Most small businesses guess their monthly sales and their cost of goods, and the guess is usually kinder than the truth. The cure is a record of every sale, every stock delivery and every expense as it happens.

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