Uganda’s Cabinet approves use of NIN as tax number

KAMPALA —  Cabinet has approved the use of the National Identification Number (NIN) as the Tax Identification Number (TIN) for individual taxpayers, in a move Government says will clean up the tax register, improve compliance and help the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) track income more effectively.

Justine Kasule Lumumba, the Minister for Information and National Guidance, announced the decision on Tuesday while briefing journalists on Cabinet resolutions at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala.

“Cabinet approved the use of the National Identification Number, the NIN, issued by NIRA, as the Tax Identification Number going forward,” Ms Lumumba said.

She said the change is intended to end the country’s reliance on a separate, largely manual TIN registration system, which she said had resulted in outdated and inconsistent taxpayer records.

“For years, our tax registration system has relied on a separate, largely manual TIN-based process. It has served its purpose, but it has also left us with outdated and inconsistent records, and that creates real weaknesses in data accuracy, compliance and service delivery,” she said.

Under the new arrangement, the NIN issued by the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) will identify individual taxpayers, while non-individual entities will use registration numbers issued by the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB). Foreign taxpayers can use a tax identification number issued by a foreign tax authority where Uganda has a relevant tax treaty or information-sharing agreement.

Ms Lumumba said the use of one identifier would allow Government agencies to work with more consistent information.

“By adopting the NIN as the tax identification number, we are establishing one consistent identity for every taxpayer,” she said.

She added that the arrangement would improve the accuracy of the taxpayer register, strengthen the Government’s ability to identify and trace taxpayers, improve data sharing between Government systems and reduce revenue leakage.

“It will help us improve compliance, reduce revenue leakage, and make it simpler for citizens to register and communicate with the tax authorities,” she said.

Policy already in law

The Cabinet decision comes after Parliament approved the Tax Procedures Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was subsequently assented to by President Museveni and became the Tax Procedures Code (Amendment) Act, 2025.

The law amended Section 4 of the Tax Procedures Code to provide that a NIN issued by NIRA would be used as the tax identification number for an individual, while the URSB registration number would serve the same purpose for non-individuals.

The parliamentary Finance Committee backed the measure, saying the NIN would provide a more consistent identifier because it remains attached to an individual even when their name or address changes.

The committee also argued that linking the NIN to tax records would improve data management, make it easier to cross-reference taxpayer information and help URA identify people engaged in business but not paying their fair share of taxes.

New Vision reported at the time that the change was intended to ease tax collection, while the parliamentary budget committee argued that the NIN would provide continuity when taxpayers’ personal details changed.

URA has since moved to operationalise the reform. In a public notice issued in May, the authority said the replacement of TINs with NINs or Business Registration Numbers had taken effect from July 1, 2025, and directed taxpayers to update their registration details.

The latest Cabinet announcement therefore gives fresh political backing to a reform that is already embedded in the tax administration framework.

Critics raise privacy concerns

But the integration of national identity and tax records has also raised concerns about privacy, system capacity and the possibility of drawing people into the tax register merely because they possess a NIN.

A commentary published by Daily Monitor in June last year warned that the reform could flood the tax register with inactive taxpayers while raising questions about data protection and the additional compliance burden that could fall on people who had previously had little interaction with the tax system.

Tax analyst Kittengo also questioned the readiness of NIRA to issue and replace national identification numbers promptly, as well as whether URA’s systems could handle the increased volume of information. Another concern was that not every person with a NIN is necessarily liable to pay tax.

There are also broader privacy concerns because the NIN is increasingly being used across banking, business registration, licensing and other services.

The Digital Agenda Forum, in an open letter published by Nile Post, warned that combining identity, economic and civic information around one identifier could increase the risks of profiling, identity theft, surveillance and exclusion if adequate safeguards are not maintained.

The concerns are not entirely new. In 2024, Daily Monitor reported a dispute over URA’s attempt to obtain National Water and Sewerage Corporation customer data for tax compliance purposes. Privacy lawyers argued that the collection of personal information required proper safeguards and impact assessments.

Bigger tax administration shift

For Government, however, the reform is part of a much larger effort to move Uganda’s tax administration towards data-driven enforcement.

The Finance ministry and URA have set a target of raising Uganda’s tax-to-GDP ratio from 14.2 per cent to 20 per cent by 2029/30. Government says the target will be pursued through digital transformation, formalisation, improved coordination between agencies and better use of data.

For the 2026/27 financial year, Government projects domestic revenue of Shs45.96 trillion, including Shs40.16 trillion in tax revenue.

The NIN therefore gives URA something more valuable than simply a replacement number: a permanent link between a taxpayer and information held elsewhere in Government systems.

That could make it easier for the taxman to connect a person’s tax record with information relating to business registration, property, imports and other economic activity, helping identify people who may have taxable income but are outside the formal tax register.

The reform is already part of a broader digitalisation programme. URA’s Instant TIN system, introduced in 2022, has been linking its registration system to NIRA and URSB databases to improve taxpayer registration and data quality. Research on the system found that the integration has helped streamline registration, although weaknesses remain in verifying applicants’ identities and keeping contact information current.

For ordinary taxpayers, the change should remove one administrative step: an individual should no longer need to obtain a separate identity number solely for tax purposes.

For URA, however, the bigger prize is a cleaner and more comprehensive taxpayer register.

The challenge will be ensuring that the efficiency gained from linking databases does not come at the expense of privacy, accurate taxpayer identification and fair enforcement.