The short answer
You can claim input VAT in Uganda when three things are true: you are VAT-registered, the purchase was for your taxable business activity, and you hold a valid EFRIS e-invoice or e-receipt showing the VAT. URA also gives you a hard deadline, not an open one: you have 6 months from the date of the purchase invoice to apply for the credit, a rule that has been in force since 1 July 2021. Miss that window and the claim is at risk of being disallowed even if everything else about it is correct.
A short list of purchases cannot be claimed no matter how good your paperwork is, mainly passenger vehicles and most entertainment. If your business makes both taxable and VAT-exempt supplies, you can only claim the input VAT tied to the taxable side, and you need to apportion the rest, covered further down. This page sets out the published rules plus our own reading of how URA applies them in practice; for a ruling on your own claim, take it to URA or a registered tax adviser. See our full VAT in Uganda guide for registration and rates.
How to claim input VAT in Uganda: what qualifies
Input VAT is the VAT you paid on your own business purchases, goods, services, equipment, stock, that you net off against the VAT you charge your customers (output tax) on your monthly return. People also call this an input tax credit; it is the same thing.
What is an input tax credit?
It is not a separate scheme. VAT payable to URA equals output tax minus input tax. Your input tax credit is simply the input VAT you are entitled to subtract, purchase by purchase, provided the purchase supports a taxable part of your business.
The documents URA accepts
- A valid EFRIS e-invoice (if your supplier is VAT-registered) or e-receipt (if they are not, but still required to use EFRIS), carrying a Fiscal Document Number, a verification code and a QR code.
- The VAT amount shown separately from the price, so the input VAT figure is not something you have to back-calculate from a vague total.
- Your own Business Registration Number, National ID Number or TIN on the document where the purchase is for business, which is what URA expects to see on a business-to-business sale.
- A clear link between the purchase and your taxable business activity, not a personal or unrelated cost run through the business.
Without these, you may still have paid VAT, but you will struggle to show URA that you did.
The EFRIS e-invoice requirement, and what happens without one
Since 1 January 2021 every VAT-registered business has had to issue e-invoices through EFRIS, and since 1 July 2025 twelve named sectors (including construction, manufacturing, accommodation and food service, and professional services) must issue e-invoices or e-receipts too, VAT-registered or not, unless their annual turnover is below UGX 10,000,000. Read the full mechanics in our EFRIS in Uganda guide.
Under Income Tax Act section 22(3)(m), a business cannot claim the income tax deduction for a cost that is not backed by a valid EFRIS document when the supplier was required to issue one. URA states this rule directly for income tax. Our own reading, which URA has not published a matching rule for specifically, is that the same missing document undermines an input VAT claim in the same way: you have no EFRIS record to point to as proof the VAT was paid. Treat an input VAT claim without an EFRIS document as high risk, and confirm your specific case with URA or a tax adviser rather than relying on our reading alone.
Claiming VAT without an EFRIS invoice
In practice, do not pay for a taxable purchase from a supplier who should be on EFRIS without insisting on the e-invoice or e-receipt first. A handwritten receipt, a bank transfer reference or a delivery note is not a substitute; it has no Fiscal Document Number, verification code or QR code for URA to check.
The time limit for a late input VAT claim
Uganda's VAT rules give you 6 months from the date of the purchase invoice to apply for the input tax credit, a deadline that has applied since 1 July 2021 and was not changed by the 2026 tax amendment Acts.
- Claim in the VAT return for the month the purchase falls in wherever you can; do not stockpile invoices.
- If you are catching up on older purchases, check the invoice date against today's date before you include it. Anything past 6 months is a claim at risk of disallowance, not a safe one.
- Keep a simple log (a spreadsheet is enough) of invoice date against claim date for any purchase you are claiming late, so you can show URA you acted within the window if asked.
If you think you have missed the 6-month window on a material amount, do not just carry it forward quietly; ask URA or a tax adviser what your options are before you file.
Disallowed input tax
A handful of costs are disallowed input tax by category, regardless of how well documented the purchase is:
- Passenger vehicles. No input VAT on buying, repairing, maintaining or buying spare parts for a passenger automobile, unless your business itself trades in vehicles or vehicle spare parts.
- Entertainment. No input VAT on entertainment supplied to clients or staff, unless entertainment is your trade, or the entertainment is meals or refreshments provided to your own employees, on your premises, solely for their benefit.
- Electronic services costs. Listed as disallowed in the guidance available to us, but without further detail on scope; if this affects a material cost in your business, confirm the exact definition with URA before excluding the claim.
| Expense | Input VAT claimable or not | What URA looks for |
|---|---|---|
| Stock or raw materials from a VAT-registered supplier | Claimable | A valid EFRIS e-invoice with VAT shown separately, claimed within 6 months |
| Equipment, computers, furniture and other assets used in the business | Claimable | EFRIS e-invoice or e-receipt, asset used for your taxable activity |
| Passenger motor vehicle: purchase, repair, maintenance or spare parts | Not claimable | Whether your own business trades in vehicles or spare parts, the only exception |
| Client entertainment, meals out, hospitality for visitors | Not claimable | Whether entertainment is your own trade, otherwise disallowed |
| Meals or refreshments for your own staff, cooked and served on your premises | Claimable | That it is for employees only, on the employer's premises |
| Electronic services costs | Not claimable, on current guidance | URA has not published the exact scope; confirm before excluding it |
| Costs shared between a taxable and an exempt part of your business | Claimable in part | Your apportionment method and the taxable share of turnover |
| Imported services billed from abroad (consultants, software subscriptions) | Not claimable | You already pay 18% reverse-charge VAT yourself; it is not an input credit |
| Any purchase with no valid EFRIS e-invoice or e-receipt from a supplier required to use EFRIS | Not claimable | A Fiscal Document Number, verification code and QR code on the document |
VAT apportionment for mixed supplies
If your business makes both taxable supplies and VAT-exempt supplies (a mixed business), you can only claim the input VAT that relates to the taxable side. Input VAT tied only to your exempt supplies cannot be claimed at all. Zero-rated supplies are different again: VAT is charged at 0 percent but input VAT on related purchases can still be claimed in full; see exempt vs zero-rated if you are not sure which applies to you.
We could not find a published VAT Act formula for splitting shared input VAT between the taxable and exempt sides of a mixed business. The common practice we have seen is to apportion shared costs by the ratio of taxable turnover to total turnover for the period, but URA has not confirmed one fixed method to us, and URA can challenge an apportionment it disagrees with. Confirm your method with URA or a tax adviser, especially if the exempt side of your business is significant.
Worked example: apportioning a shared cost
A business runs a retail shop (taxable) and a small training academy (educational services, VAT-exempt) from the same building. For the month, the shop's taxable turnover is UGX 30,000,000 and the academy's exempt turnover is UGX 10,000,000, a total of UGX 40,000,000. Shared input VAT for the month, on rent, power and admin costs used by both sides, comes to UGX 1,800,000.
Apportioning by turnover: the taxable share is 30,000,000 ÷ 40,000,000 = 75%. Claimable input VAT on the shared costs = 1,800,000 × 75% = UGX 1,350,000. The remaining UGX 450,000 relates to the exempt academy and is not claimable. Input VAT on costs that belong only to the shop, such as shop stock, is claimed in full; input VAT on costs that belong only to the academy is not claimable at all.
Imports, and the audit trail to keep
An imported service is a reverse charge: you, the Ugandan recipient, pay VAT at 18% on the value of the service yourself, and that VAT is not claimable as input VAT. Since 1 July 2022, an imported service is exempt from this charge if the same service would be VAT-exempt had it been supplied inside Uganda.
For imported goods, VAT you pay at the point of import for goods used in your taxable business is generally claimable as input VAT if you are VAT-registered, supported by your import and customs paperwork. Our research did not confirm the exact document set URA expects for an import-VAT claim beyond the services reverse-charge rule above, so check the specific requirement with URA or your clearing agent before relying on it.
The audit trail to keep
- The EFRIS e-invoice or e-receipt itself (PDF or printout), showing the Fiscal Document Number, verification code and QR code.
- Proof of payment matching the invoice, and a note of what the purchase was for in your business.
- Any credit or debit note raised through EFRIS against the original document; URA now recognises a credit note in the same month as the original invoice, not the month URA approves it. See EFRIS credit notes and errors if one goes wrong.
- Your monthly VAT return showing the claim, filed and paid by the 15th of the following month.
- If your input VAT exceeds output VAT by more than UGX 5,000,000 in a period, keep the paperwork ready for a refund application, which must be made within 3 years of that tax period; below that threshold, the excess is normally carried forward instead.
Two worked examples: one URA accepts, one URA rejects
Example URA accepts
A retail shop buys UGX 23,600,000 of stock, VAT inclusive, from a VAT-registered supplier who issues a proper EFRIS e-invoice. VAT-exclusive value = 23,600,000 ÷ 1.18 = UGX 20,000,000; VAT = UGX 3,600,000. The shop is VAT-registered, the stock is for its taxable retail business, it holds the EFRIS e-invoice with a valid Fiscal Document Number, and it claims the credit within 6 months. Result: the full UGX 3,600,000 is properly claimable input VAT. You can check figures like this with our VAT calculator.
Example URA rejects
The same shop pays UGX 5,000,000 to a small contractor for shopfront repairs. Construction is one of the sectors that has had to issue EFRIS documents since 1 July 2025. The contractor gives only a handwritten receipt, no e-invoice or e-receipt, no Fiscal Document Number. On our reading, an input VAT claim on the VAT portion of this cost, about UGX 763,000 if the price was VAT-inclusive, is at serious risk of being disallowed for lack of EFRIS backing, on top of the shop losing the income tax deduction for the same UGX 5,000,000 under Income Tax Act section 22(3)(m). Result: do not treat this as a safe claim; go back to the contractor and insist on the EFRIS document, or leave it out of your return.
If a claim has already gone wrong
If URA has disallowed a claim, sent an assessment, or a penalty has landed, the deadline on that notice is what matters first, not this page. Note it and do not let it pass while you gather documents. Pull together the EFRIS records, proof of payment and the VAT returns for the periods in question, since you cannot argue a claim without them. If URA has asked for records, send what you have and ask in writing for a reasonable extension if you genuinely need one, rather than going quiet. If it becomes a dispute, see our VAT and EFRIS disputes guide. None of this is a ruling; a URA officer or a registered tax adviser needs to look at your specific notice.
Growth Informer Software Services is registered with URA as a tax agent. If you want help getting your EFRIS set-up right so claims like these hold up, filing a VAT return, or responding to a penalty or assessment, we can do that on your own systems and we quote after seeing the notice or your books, never before. Our own cloud POS system, Growth Informer Business, issues URA EFRIS e-receipts and e-invoices today, and EFRIS is a setting you can switch on when you need it.
Frequently asked questions
How do I claim input VAT in Uganda?
Register for VAT, keep a valid EFRIS e-invoice or e-receipt for every purchase you want to claim on, check the purchase is not in a disallowed category such as passenger vehicles or entertainment, and apply for the credit within 6 months of the invoice date. If you make mixed taxable and exempt supplies, apportion the shared input VAT first. This is general guidance, not a ruling on your own return.
What is an input tax credit?
It is the same thing as input VAT: the VAT you paid on your own business purchases, which you net off against the VAT you charge customers (output tax) when you file your monthly VAT return.
What is disallowed input tax?
Input VAT URA will not let you claim, mainly on passenger vehicles and their repairs or spare parts (unless you deal in vehicles), most entertainment (unless it is your trade, or it is on-premises staff meals), and, on the guidance available to us, electronic services costs.
Is VAT on motor vehicles claimable?
Not for a passenger automobile, or its repair, maintenance or spare parts, unless your own business trades in vehicles or vehicle spare parts. That is the only exception, whatever the vehicle is used for.
Can I claim VAT without an EFRIS invoice?
Not safely. If your supplier was required to use EFRIS and did not issue a proper e-invoice or e-receipt, you have no Fiscal Document Number, verification code or QR code to prove the VAT was paid, and a claim without that backing is at serious risk of being disallowed. Ask for the EFRIS document before you pay, not after.
How does VAT apportionment work for mixed supplies?
If you make both taxable and VAT-exempt supplies, you can only claim the input VAT tied to the taxable side. We could not confirm one fixed VAT Act formula; most businesses apportion shared costs by the ratio of taxable to total turnover for the period, but confirm your method with URA or a tax adviser before relying on it.