Government has tasked Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and telecom companies to find a way of levying the highly contested OTT tax directly on airtime or data bundles.
The directive comes after several Ugandans have resorted to using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to dodge paying the daily Shs200 to access the Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp among other platforms.
“We had a meeting to resolve some problems with the OTT tax and agreed that we charge it indirectly as the law on Excise Duty requires,” URA’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Ian Rumanyika said.
“Telecom companies therefore have to find a way of embedding the charge to ensure that it is not felt by the user,” he added.
Telecom companies however said they had not been informed of the changes and until further notice, will continue to levy the tax as before – at the point of access.