“In this world, nothing can be certain except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin
Taxes is one of the most hated expenses that most individuals and companies always complain about and/or try to avoid.
Some avoid taxes in a legally accepted way, others are smart enough to transfer it to their customers while the rest illegally avoid paying taxes either intentionally or through ignorance.
The majority of football stakeholders in Uganda have been ignorant about their tax obligations until the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) communicated that football clubs are supposed to start remitting Pay As You Earn (P.A.Y.E) for all their employees.
As usual, most tax announcements are met with complaints yet football stakeholders should have a positive attitude towards meeting all tax obligations, and here’s why.
By August 2020, the majority of sectors in Uganda had resumed operating post the COVID-19-induced lockdown but, football was still on hold.
Football in Uganda greatly contributes a lot to the economy but it’s not documented for the government to be aware of the facts.
For those of us that work in football, our livelihoods depend on it but unfortunately, we haven’t taken the necessary steps to show the government how football contributes to Uganda’s economy.
By now, we have learned that the government of Uganda prioritizes the sectors that contribute to the economy.
A very good example would be the transport sector of commuter taxis and Boda Bodas, they operate in an informal sector but are customers of the fuel companies that pay a lot of taxes.
It’s easy to see why the transport sector was allowed to resume earlier than football yet it also has the risk of crowding.
Football stakeholders in Uganda should accept that complying with tax regulations would enable the government to know what they contribute to the economy and how to support the growth of football.
The other reason is the ability for football to get tax holidays, however, this is only possible when the government is able to know the potential of football’s contribution to the economy.
Tax holidays in football would encourage economic activity and foster growth, stimulate foreign investment and increase tax revenue in the long run.
This is where football in Uganda finds itself in a tax dilemma. Is it tax holidays before taxes?
For football in Uganda to be on the safe side, it would have to be paying taxes first and then lobbying for tax holidays.
Thank you for reading!
Ben Mwesigwa 
There’s a lot that we still have got to do as the football community to improve the sport that we love especially locally here.
I think this will need to come way from the top of the governing body say by putting up minimal requirements for every club[yes, I know it’s there but we can still improve on it] to fulfill. This comes from the administration of the clubs, running of the clubs and the facilities. As such we could be able to see fans get involved more in the game which could possibly help generate more revenue for the individual clubs say in form of jersey purchases among other ways as well as expansion of the fan base.
This could be achieved through incentives to the clubs by help of the authorities in one way or another which could include attraction of would be investors with strategies of how they could earn back their investments in the long run. From this, the sport could possibly develop more which would become more income generating allowing more taxable incomes
Wonderful and insightful.
It comes at a time when only a few clubs can manage paying salary to players and not that much. Look at the average salary might be 400000 and most times it delays to come what will they be taxing.
Thank you for reading. It’s true that football clubs in Uganda are struggling with paying salaries because of many reasons. It’s time for clubs to find a way to solve their problems but they have to be compliant with regulations and obligations. We have to make the decision, do we stay amateur or go professional? A professional football club anticipates problems through planning.
good school of thought, the government can’t risk where it doesn’t earn (revenue)
Thank you Jim. We need to stop expecting the government to help what they don’t know about.
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