Ugandans will no longer need to maintain a separate Tax Identification Number (TIN) from the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), following a government decision to adopt the National Identification Number (NIN) as the TIN for individual taxpayers.
The change was announced by ICT and National Guidance Minister Justine Kasule Lumumba on Tuesday, 1 September 2026, following a Cabinet decision.
But what does this mean for an ordinary Ugandan who already has a National ID or a TIN?
Under the new system, the NIN issued by the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) will also be used as your tax identification number.
This means your NIN will serve two purposes: identifying you as an individual and identifying you as a taxpayer.
Instead of having one number issued by NIRA for identification and another issued by URA for tax purposes, the government will use the same NIN across the two systems.
What if you already have a TIN?
If you already have a URA-issued TIN, the move does not mean that you should immediately abandon it or apply for another number.
The government has been working to link existing URA taxpayer records to NINs. In May 2026, URA asked taxpayers to update their registration details and link their existing tax records to their NINs.
The integration is intended to ensure that existing taxpayer information is matched with the correct national identity before the new arrangement is fully implemented.
What about people who do not have a TIN?
For an individual who does not already have a TIN, the NIN will serve as the tax identification number under the new system.
This is expected to make tax registration simpler because an individual will no longer need to go through a separate process to obtain another identification number from URA.
What will you use your NIN for?
Once the system is fully implemented, an individual can use their NIN as their tax identification number when dealing with tax-related services.
The same number will therefore identify you in both the national identification system and the tax system.
Your National ID remains your physical identification document, while the NIN is the unique number attached to your identity. It is the NIN, rather than the physical card itself, that will serve as the TIN.
What about businesses?
The new arrangement announced by Cabinet applies to individual taxpayers. Businesses have separate registration identities.
URA has previously directed taxpayers to link their records to either a NIN or a Business Registration Number (BRN), depending on whether they are individuals or registered businesses.
The government says the separate TIN system has relied on registration processes that were largely manual and created problems with outdated or inconsistent taxpayer records.
By using the NIN as the TIN, the government wants to create one consistent identity for each individual taxpayer.
Officials expect this to improve the accuracy of taxpayer records, make it easier to identify taxpayers, improve information sharing between government agencies and simplify tax registration.
The government also believes the integrated system could help reduce revenue leakage and improve tax compliance.
