Case file VAT-2025-SOLAR-BIOMASS
Solar lanterns and biomass pellets exempted from VAT
Highest rung reached: Verified lawLaw: read in a statutory textExemption · Health and environment
2 points pending verification
- The Act number and gazette.
- The FY2025/26 budget speech and any estimate of the cost.
Law
- Principal Act
- Value Added Tax Act (Cap 344), enacted as Statute 8 of 1996
- Amending Act
- Value Added Tax (Amendment) Act 2025 (Act number not printed on the copy read) (verified)
- Provision, revised numbering (2023 revision)
- Sch. 3, para. 1(v) and (ba)
- Provision, numbering before the revision
- not stated in any source read
- Principal Act dates
- assent 1996-03-23; gazette 1996-04-04; commencement 1996-07-01; Statute Supplement 5
- Amending Act in force from
- 1 July 2025 (assented 30 June 2025)
- Tax heads and taxpayers affected
- VAT. Households buying solar lanterns and biomass pellets, and their suppliers.
- Status
- Legal: in force. Implementation: pending verification.
| Section A: The law | |
|---|---|
| Amending Act | Value Added Tax (Amendment) Act 2025 (Act number not printed on the copy read) |
| In force from | 1 July 2025 |
| Assent | 30 June 2025 |
| Section B: What the law said before | |
the supply of deep cycle batteries, composite lanterns and raw material for the manufacture of deep cycle batteries and composite lanterns;Composite lanterns become solar lanterns in 2025; biomass pellets (para. 1(ba)) appear nowhere in the 23 December 2024 text and are new.ULII-VAT-2024, PDF page 36, Sch. 3, para. 1(v) | |
| *** END OF CHANGE SLIP *** | |
The wording in force
as at 2025-07-01
(v) the supply of deep cycle batteries, solar lanterns and raw materials for the manufacture of deep cycle batteries and solar lanterns; (ba) the supply of biomass pellets. Verified law: Wording or a date read in a statutory text, with the version and page named.[ACT-VAT-2025, PDF page 4, s. 3(a) and (d)]
Redline pending verification
Reason
Stated objective pending verification
Revenue
Amendment-level revenue contribution not reliably quantified.
- Rung 1
Observed change
Observed: A value or event as an official source records it, copied without calculation.- Collections for the tax heads affected are drawn on the story page, from URA's annual data books. Before and after is never presented as this amendment's effect.
- Rung 2
Official forecast
Official forecast: What MoFPED or URA said a measure would raise, or why it was made, before the year began.Missing. No official forecast for this measure was found in the budget documents or URA reports read. The budget speech and the Finance Bill memorandum for the year would settle it (MoFPED).
- Rung 3
Reported yield
Reported yield: What URA attributes to a measure after the year. An official attribution, not a causal estimate.Missing. URA's annual revenue reports read for the register attribute no yield to this measure. URA's measure-level policy tables, where they exist, would settle it (URA Research and Planning).
- Rung 4
Static or modelled estimate
Modelled estimate: A mechanical or model calculation, with every assumption shown.Missing. No estimate made. A static estimate needs the taxable base before the change (volumes or values by product), which the register does not hold.
- Rung 5
Causal estimate
Causal estimate: An effect identified by a stated research design against a comparison group.Missing. No study with a defensible identification strategy was found for this amendment.
- Rung 6
Wider impact
Interpretation: A reading of the evidence, by a named source or by this register.Missing. No source read for the register describes effects on prices, compliance cost, investment or equity.
What is known, what is uncertain, and what would settle it
- Known: only the collections of the tax heads affected.
- Uncertain: official forecast, reported yield, static or modelled estimate, causal estimate, wider impact; and 2 open points below.
Pathway
From the amendment to its wider consequences. Select a link to read what supports it. No money is drawn along the chain, because no flow along it is measured.
Verified: A source read for the register documents this link.
The provision is read in the ULII consolidated text.
- amendment: verified. The provision is read in the ULII consolidated text.
- mechanism: verified. Part of the base taken out of tax.
- implementation: no evidence. No source read dates its implementation.
- response: no evidence. No source read describes how taxpayers responded.
- outcome: no evidence. No reported yield or estimate.
- wider: no evidence. No source read measures wider effects. No evidence found is not evidence of no effect.
Consequences
Graded against ten criteria. No composite score: a reform that raises money can still be regressive or costly to comply with, and one that loses revenue can serve a legitimate aim. Revenue effectiveness is graded by a stated rule; the rest only where a source speaks to them.
What worked
No criterion graded effective on the evidence read.
What did not
No criterion graded ineffective or counterproductive on the evidence read.
Open or not evaluated
Revenue effectiveness
The measure was not meant to raise revenue, or its direction is unknown.(graded by rule)
Not evaluated
Legal clarity and certainty
No source read for the register speaks to this criterion.
Not evaluated
Administrative feasibility
No source read for the register speaks to this criterion.
Not evaluated
Compliance cost
No source read for the register speaks to this criterion.
Not evaluated
Efficiency
No source read for the register speaks to this criterion.
Not evaluated
Investment and competitiveness
No source read for the register speaks to this criterion.
Not evaluated
Vertical and horizontal equity
No source read for the register speaks to this criterion.
Not evaluated
Distributional effect
No source read for the register speaks to this criterion.
Not evaluated
Implementation quality
No source read for the register speaks to this criterion.
Not evaluated
Unintended consequences
No source read for the register speaks to this criterion.
Not evaluated
Afterlife
No Tax Appeals Tribunal or court decision on this provision is on record yet. That is not evidence that none exists.
Pending verification
- The Act number and gazette.
- The FY2025/26 budget speech and any estimate of the cost.
Sources
ACT-VAT-2025
Value Added Tax (Amendment) Act, 2025 (printed impression, Act number not printed)
Parliament of Uganda; Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation. 2025-06-30. Covers In force from its commencement.
Desktop/Tax legislation Amendment Acts/VALUE ADDED TAX ACT 2025.pdf
Status: verified. Pages confirmed for this record in the source audit: 4 (PDF).
A scanned printed impression of the bill as passed: the Clerk to Parliament's authentication dated 19 May 2025 and the President's assent signed and dated 30 June 2025 by hand. No Act number or gazette is printed. Read as page images (6 pages).