There is a new player quietly joining Uganda’s entertainment business, and this one does not need a microphone, stage lights or a backstage pass.
It is the taxman.
President Yoweri Museveni assented to the Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2026, introducing a six per cent withholding tax on payments to public entertainers. The law was assented to on August 20, 2026, but its commencement date is July 1, meaning the change applies from the beginning of the 2026/27 financial year.
For musicians, actors, comedians, DJs, presenters, digital creators and the people who pay them, this could change how entertainment money moves.
And yes, that means that a Shs.10 million gig may no longer look exactly like Shs.10 million when it reaches your account.
So, what exactly is happening?
The basic idea is fairly simple.
When someone pays a public entertainer, six per cent of the gross payment is withheld and paid to the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
So, if an artiste is booked for Shs.10 million, Shs600,000 would be withheld, leaving Shs9.4 million to be paid to the artiste, assuming the full payment falls under the provision.
The tax is not supposed to be an extra six per cent added to the artiste’s fee. It is withheld from the payment. That little distinction could become a big deal when artistes start negotiating their fees.
An artiste saying, “My performance fee is Shs10 million,” may now need to be clearer about whether that means Shs10 million before tax or Shs.10 million in hand.
And promoters will need to be equally clear.
It is not just about concerts
If you hear “public entertainer”, your mind may immediately go to a musician standing on stage at Lugogo Cricket Oval. But the new law goes wider than that.
The definition covers people performing in public, before cameras or microphones, for entertainment, artistic or similar purposes. It specifically includes stage, radio, television and digital performers.
That puts the spotlight on a much bigger part of Uganda’s entertainment world.
Think comedians, Actors, DJs, TV and radio performers, Digital entertainers and the growing army of content creators whose phones have become their studios, cameras and distribution channels.
The entertainment industry has changed, and the tax law appears to be catching up with that change.
Hello, content creators…
This could be one of the most interesting parts of the new arrangement.
Uganda’s entertainment business has moved far beyond radio and television. Today, a creator can build a following on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram or other platforms and turn that audience into a business.
A brand may pay a creator to appear at an event. Another may hire them for a campaign or branded entertainment. The question now is whether such payments fall within the public-entertainer withholding provision.
The answer will depend on the nature of the engagement and the payment, so creators and brands should not assume that every online transaction automatically attracts the six per cent.
But the inclusion of digital performers in the definition sends a clear message: the tax conversation is following entertainment onto the internet.
Fresh headache for promoters
Promoters already have enough to worry about. Venue, Sound, lights, security, advertising, tickets, transport, artistes and whether people will actually turn up. Now tax compliance joins the list.
For a promoter paying several artistes, the deductions can quickly add up. An event with ten performers, each receiving different fees, could involve multiple withholding calculations and documentation. This makes contracts more important than ever.
Instead of simply agreeing on a fee over a WhatsApp conversation and shaking hands backstage, organisers and artistes will increasingly need to be clear about what the agreed amount represents and how withholding tax will be handled.
For the more professional players, this may simply become another line in the accounting process. For smaller promoters and emerging artistes, it could take some getting used to.
Will artistes simply increase their fees?
Well, this is where the entertainment business gets interesting.
If an artiste wants to walk away with Shs10 million after the six per cent deduction, the contract would have to be structured around the desired net amount rather than simply saying “Shs10 million”.
That could mean some artistes start quoting higher performance fees.
A performer who previously charged Shs10 million might now say, “I need Shs.10 million net.”
The promoter, meanwhile, has to work out what the actual gross cost will be. That is why tax is likely to become part of fee negotiations. It may not change the amount an artiste believes they are worth, but it could change how that amount is written on paper.
What about foreign artistes?
Uganda’s entertainment industry is also increasingly regional and international.
Kenyan, Tanzanian, Nigerian, Congolese, Rwandan and South African artistes regularly perform for Ugandan audiences.
For non-resident public entertainers, the withholding tax rate is higher: 15 per cent, according to URA guidance. For promoters bringing international acts into Uganda, that means tax needs to be considered when putting together the cost of a show.
The headline performance fee may therefore not be the final number the promoter needs to budget for.
Bad news?
Not entirely. Nobody likes seeing money deducted from their gig. But there is another side to this.
Uganda’s entertainment industry has grown into a serious business while much of it has remained informal. Many artistes operate as individuals. Payments are sometimes made without proper contracts. Records are not always kept.
Some creative workers have little documentation showing their income.
A system that requires payments to be documented could gradually push the industry towards better business practices. An artiste who keeps contracts and tax records has a better paper trail when applying for a loan, negotiating with a brand or demonstrating their income.
A promoter with proper financial records has a clearer picture of whether an event actually made money. In that sense, taxation could become part of the wider professionalisation of the entertainment industry.
But there is a catch
Uganda’s creative sector is not made up entirely of big stars.
There are young musicians doing their first gigs, dancers performing at small events, comedians building audiences, DJs working weekend shows and creators trying to turn social media attention into an income.
For these people, every deduction matters.
If taxation becomes another burden without easier access to finance, business support, infrastructure and markets, smaller players could feel squeezed.
And there is always the possibility that some transactions simply move further underground.
That would not help anyone.
The challenge for government will therefore be to bring the industry into the formal economy without making formalisation so difficult that the smallest players run away from it.
The bigger conversation
The new tax should perhaps be viewed as part of a much bigger shift.
Uganda’s entertainment industry is no longer just about musicians releasing songs and promoters selling concert tickets.
It is an ecosystem.
There are artistes, producers, managers, DJs, dancers, photographers, videographers, designers, content creators, event companies, broadcasters, brands, venues and countless others making money from creative work.
As that ecosystem grows, government wants a clearer view of the money moving through it. The Income Tax Amendment Act gives it another way of doing that.
For the entertainment industry, however, the hope should be that formalisation comes with more than deductions.
If artistes are expected to become more visible to the tax system, there should also be stronger systems around them—better copyright protection, access to finance, skills development, infrastructure, market opportunities and reliable industry data.
Because ultimately, the goal should not be simply to make entertainers easier to tax. It should be to make entertainment a better business to be in.
So, the next time an artiste announces a Shs10 million gig, there may be another question backstage: “Is that Shs10 million before or after tax?”
Welcome to the new business of Ugandan entertainment.
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