The short answer
Registering a business name with URSB costs UGX 90,000: UGX 35,000 to reserve the name and UGX 55,000 to register it. A private company with nominal share capital up to UGX 5,000,000 costs UGX 105,000 plus 0.5% stamp duty on that capital, on top of the same UGX 35,000 reservation, so UGX 150,000 in total on UGX 2,000,000 of capital. A Tax Identification Number from URA is free.
That is the URSB bill, not the whole bill. A trading licence from KCCA or your council is assessed separately by trade and business area grade, from about UGX 6,000 a year for a kiosk in the lowest grade to UGX 600,000 a year for a pharmacy in the highest. Local service tax of UGX 5,000 to UGX 100,000 a year is assessed at the same counter as the licence. And from your first employee, NSSF costs the business 10% of their gross pay every month, which for most shops is a bigger number than the registration itself.
An agent charges their own fee on top of all of that: owners report paying from about UGX 600,000 upwards for the same filing, which is reported experience rather than a published rate. For the steps themselves see how-to-register-a-business-in-uganda, and for licence fees by trade and grade see trading-licence-uganda.
The official fees, one by one
These are the published government rates, checked September 2026. They go to URSB, URA or your council directly, and no part of them goes to an agent.
| What you are paying for | Official fee | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| Name reservation, business name or company | UGX 35,000 | URSB |
| Business name registration | UGX 55,000, so UGX 90,000 with the reservation | URSB |
| Partnership registration | UGX 55,000, after the same UGX 35,000 reservation | URSB |
| Private company, nominal share capital up to UGX 5,000,000 | UGX 105,000 | URSB |
| Stamp duty on nominal share capital | 0.5%, so UGX 5,000 on UGX 1,000,000 or UGX 25,000 on UGX 5,000,000 | URSB |
| Company limited by guarantee | UGX 105,000 plus UGX 35,000 stamp duty | URSB |
| Tax Identification Number (TIN) | Free | URA |
| Trading licence | By trade and area grade, about UGX 6,000 to UGX 600,000 a year | KCCA or your council |
| Local service tax, business owner | UGX 5,000 to UGX 100,000 a year by monthly turnover | KCCA or your council |
For nominal share capital above UGX 5,000,000, URSB's own published sources do not agree: the fee page lists 1.5% of nominal capital, while the Client Charter 2025 to 2030 lists a 1% registration fee plus 0.5% stamp duty. Both land near 1.5%, so budget 1.5% of your nominal capital and confirm the exact figure on the payment advice the e-registry generates before you pay.
Fees that come later
None of these apply until the business is already registered and trading, but they belong in the plan for year two.
- Annual return of a company limited by shares: UGX 55,000, or UGX 35,000 for a company limited by guarantee
- Change of directors or company secretary: UGX 35,000
- Any company resolution: UGX 35,000
- Share transfer form: UGX 35,000, plus stamp duty on the amount transferred, which the URSB charter puts at 1.5% for private company shares
- Business name changes: change of particulars UGX 35,000, change of address UGX 35,000, rectification of the register UGX 55,000, notice of cessation UGX 35,000, certification UGX 35,000, and a register search UGX 25,000
We could not find a published URSB penalty for filing an annual return late in the sources checked for this page, so if you are already behind, ask URSB directly rather than trusting a figure from a blog.
The charges that are not on the URSB page
Most guides stop at the URSB fee. The charges below are the ones that surprise owners in the first year, and one of them carries a penalty.
Local service tax, assessed with your trading licence
Local service tax is an annual local government charge, and in Kampala a business owner pays it on monthly business turnover: UGX 5,000 a year at UGX 500,000 to UGX 1,000,000 a month, rising by about UGX 10,000 for each extra UGX 1,000,000 of monthly turnover, up to UGX 100,000 a year above UGX 10,000,000 a month. It is assessed at the same visit as the trading licence, and the full band table sits on trading-licence-uganda.
The trap: local service tax on your staff
If you have employees you must also deduct their local service tax from gross pay and remit it to the local authority where each employee lives, within the first four months of the financial year, by 31 October. The penalty for late or non remittance is 50% of the local service tax due. Employee rates run from UGX 5,000 a year on pay above UGX 100,000 to UGX 200,000 a month, to UGX 100,000 a year on pay above UGX 1,000,000 a month. It is a small tax with a large penalty, and it is the one new employers miss.
NSSF, from your first employee
Since the NSSF (Amendment) Act 2022 every employer must register and contribute regardless of headcount. Contributions are 15% of gross monthly pay, 10% from the employer and 5% deducted from the employee, due by the 15th of the following month. On one employee earning UGX 400,000 a month, the employer's own share is UGX 40,000 a month, UGX 480,000 a year.
Document costs for a company
A company needs a memorandum and articles of association and a statutory declaration of compliance, and must file beneficial ownership details. A registration guide puts a commissioner for oaths or notarisation at UGX 20,000 to UGX 50,000 per document and legal drafting at UGX 200,000 to UGX 1,500,000. Those are reported market figures, not a published schedule, so treat them as a range to negotiate rather than a fee to accept.
What registering does not cost you
Registering does not create an income tax bill by itself. Presumptive tax is nil on annual turnover up to UGX 10,000,000, and above that the small business bands start at 0.4% of turnover above UGX 10,000,000 if you keep records. Without records the same band is a flat UGX 80,000, which is why business-record-keeping-uganda pays for itself before any software does.
What agents charge for the same filing
Owners report paying agents and company registration services anywhere from about UGX 600,000 to several million shillings to register a business, against an official URSB fee of UGX 90,000 for a business name. Treat that as market experience owners describe, not a published rate. The certificate an agent gets you is the same certificate you get yourself.
| Step | Official fee | What an agent's charge buys |
|---|---|---|
| Business name, reservation and registration | UGX 90,000 | Their time on the e-registry and the follow up, usually billed as one bundled service charge |
| Private company, capital up to UGX 5,000,000 | UGX 105,000 plus 0.5% stamp duty | Drafting the memorandum and articles, the declaration of compliance and the beneficial ownership filing, which is where the real work is |
| TIN registration | Free | Nothing URA charges for. An individual with a National ID gets an instant TIN online in about five minutes |
| Trading licence application | Set by KCCA or your council, by trade and grade | The visit, the queue and the assessment argument at the division office |
At the bottom of that reported range, roughly UGX 510,000 of a UGX 600,000 charge is the agent's own fee rather than anything the government receives. That does not make an agent a bad choice. It makes the honest comparison this: the agent's fee against a few hours of your own time on the URSB e-registry. URSB's own service standard is a name reserved within 3 working hours and a certificate within 3 to 6 working hours once a complete, paid application is in, though most people take 3 to 10 business days end to end once drafting and gathering director details are counted.
Three worked first year totals
A market stall, about UGX 500,000 of capital
URSB business name: UGX 90,000. TIN: free. Trading licence: none, because market traders who pay market dues and stall rent are exempt under section 8(2) of the Trade (Licensing) Act, as are farmers selling their own produce and people making handicrafts at home. Local service tax exempts petty food vendors and small informal artisans who are not established businesses, so ask your market office which side of that line your stall falls on.
Official first year bill: UGX 90,000, plus your market dues and stall rent. At this level a website and a till system are not the next purchase. A daily record and WhatsApp Business are, and they cost nothing.
A Grade III retail shop in Kampala, turnover UGX 1,500,000 a month, one employee on UGX 400,000
| Item | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| URSB business name, reservation and registration | UGX 90,000 | Once |
| TIN from URA | Free | Once |
| Trading licence, retailer, Grade III | UGX 84,000 | Every year, by 1 January |
| Local service tax, owner, turnover UGX 1.5m a month | UGX 10,000 | Yearly, with the licence |
| Local service tax deducted from the employee on UGX 400,000 | UGX 20,000 | Remitted by 31 October |
| Presumptive income tax, turnover UGX 18,000,000 a year, with records | UGX 32,000 | Yearly |
| Presumptive income tax if you keep no records | UGX 80,000 flat | Yearly |
| NSSF, employer's 10% on UGX 400,000 | UGX 480,000 | Monthly, by the 15th |
Two things fall out of that table. First, the URSB fee is the smallest recurring number in the business: NSSF on one employee costs more than five times the registration every year. Second, keeping records cuts the presumptive tax from a flat UGX 80,000 to UGX 32,000, a UGX 48,000 saving for writing down what you sell.
A private limited company, two directors, UGX 2,000,000 nominal share capital
Name reservation UGX 35,000, registration UGX 105,000, stamp duty 0.5% of UGX 2,000,000 which is UGX 10,000. URSB total: UGX 150,000. TIN free. On top of that sit the drafting and commissioning costs above, then the same trading licence, local service tax and NSSF as the shop once the company trades and hires.
So a company is UGX 60,000 more than a business name at URSB, not a different order of cost. What makes it more expensive is year two onwards: an annual return at UGX 55,000, UGX 35,000 for every change of directors and every resolution, and documents somebody has to keep correct. Take the company route for limited liability, outside shareholders or higher risk contracts, not to look larger than you are.
Set this up first
Sort these in the order they pay for themselves, and skip any step your business has not reached yet.
- Pay the official fees, not more. UGX 90,000 for a business name or from UGX 105,000 plus stamp duty for a company, a free TIN, and the trading licence for your trade unless you are an exempt market trader. Only the TIN is free, and none of it needs an agent.
- The free habits, from day one. Business money kept apart from personal money, a daily record of sales and expenses, WhatsApp Business with a catalogue, and a claimed Google Business Profile so the shop appears on Maps, see how-to-add-business-to-google-maps-uganda. These cost nothing, and the daily record alone cuts the presumptive tax in the table above from a flat UGX 80,000 to UGX 32,000.
- Once there is stock to lose or staff at the till, move sales, stock and the daily cash up onto Growth Informer Business, our cloud POS, with EFRIS switched on only when URA requires it of your business.
- Once customers look you up before they visit, a website , with a monthly care plan if you want it kept up to date. Below about UGX 1,000,000 of monthly turnover this rarely pays yet: a UGX 500,000 stall needs the daily record and WhatsApp Business, not a website.
- A custom build, quoted as a job, only when your workflow is one no ready made tool covers.
- If a penalty, assessment or deadline is already live, that is a separate and faster job. We are registered with URA as a tax agent and can file, object and represent you, and we quote after seeing the notice, see tax-agent-services-uganda.
Before you commit to any of it, put your own numbers through business-profit-calculator-uganda and see what the business actually clears in a month.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to register a business name in Uganda?
UGX 90,000 in total: UGX 35,000 to reserve the name with URSB and UGX 55,000 to register it. The TIN is free. A trading licence, local service tax and NSSF are separate and come on top.
How much does it cost to register a company in Uganda?
URSB charges UGX 105,000 to register a private company with nominal share capital up to UGX 5,000,000, plus 0.5% stamp duty on that capital, on top of a UGX 35,000 name reservation. On UGX 2,000,000 of capital that is UGX 150,000 in total. Above UGX 5,000,000 capital, budget about 1.5% of the nominal capital and confirm the figure on your payment advice.
What does it really cost to get a small shop legal in Uganda?
For a Grade III retail shop in Kampala with one employee on UGX 400,000: UGX 90,000 once to URSB, a free TIN, UGX 84,000 a year for the trading licence, UGX 10,000 a year local service tax on the owner, UGX 20,000 a year deducted from the employee, and UGX 480,000 a year in employer NSSF. The staff cost is the largest line, not the registration.
How much is a trading licence in Uganda?
It depends on your trade and the grade of your business area. Published KCCA rates for September 2026 run from about UGX 6,000 a year for a kiosk in the lowest grade to UGX 600,000 for a pharmacy in the highest. A general retail shop runs UGX 31,500 to UGX 210,000.
Do agents charge more than the official URSB fee?
Yes. Owners report paying agents and registration services from about UGX 600,000 to several million shillings for a filing whose official URSB fee is UGX 90,000 for a business name. That is reported market experience, not a published rate. You get the same certificate filing it yourself on the URSB e-registry.
Is a TIN free in Uganda?
Yes. URA issues a TIN free of charge. An individual with a National ID can get an instant TIN online in about five minutes, and companies apply online with a template URA staff verify.