As the days of tax-free OTT experience continue to fade from our memories, the Government is yet to come up with other options of paying OTT Tax other than through Mobile money. Consequently, there is so much inflexibility with the current single mode of OTT Tax payment.
However, the Government wants to somehow refine the current method, without necessarily creating another option at least for now. This is through adding an Annual OTT Tax payment.
There are currently only 3 options available for paying OTT Tax. That is, Daily, Weekly and Monthly options which are all payable using mobile money. Government is working on an option where a customer can pay for social media tax annually.
According to reports in the Daily Monitor, Mr David Bahati said that the Government, in collaboration with telecoms, was in the process of creating a window that will allow annual payments for the tax.
“We want to make it more convenient that you can buy it for a whole year and forget about it. That is what we are working on with telecom companies,” he said.
Anti-OTT crusaders have continued to put the inconveniences associated with the tax and the mode of payment. What if you don’t have money on your mobile money account? Such inconveniences have turned some ordinary Ugandans to adroit tax evaders. Not because they can’t afford the tax, but the inflexible system of OTT payment.
About Annual OTT payment
UGX 200 daily charge amounts to about UGX 73,000 OTT payment per year. This would be a good thing for a mobile money fixed OTT payment since users would make the payment once in a year. Instead of punching in USSD codes every after 23:59 everyday, or weekly -even monthly, users can rest assured they won’t do that in a years time.
It’s also a good thing for the Government. Once a number of people adopt it, it makes planning easier since money comes in huge amount and in a shorter time frame. Instead of waiting to collect UGX 200 everyday, an annual OTT payment makes planning easier.
Maybe an annual OTT payment option might stop some crafty Ugandans from using hard to stop VPNs and their costs. However, there is no timeline for which annual OTT payment will be ready. Until then, users can use the 3 available windows.
