Property transfer cost calculator

Stamp duty on a land transfer is 1.5%, not 1%

You will find 1% quoted all over the Ugandan internet, and you will find it on the Ministry of Lands’ own website. It is out of date. Stamp duty on a transfer of land was 1% under the Stamp Duty Act 2014 as originally passed, and the Stamp Duty (Amendment) Act 2016 raised it to 1.5% with effect from 1 July 2016.

The reason the old figure survives is MLHUD’s procedure sheets, the ones headed “How to transfer Mailo land” and its leasehold and freehold equivalents. They are dated March 2011 and still sit on the ministry’s site saying 1%. Property blogs quote them, and the figure has propagated for a decade. The ministry’s current Clients’ Charter says 1.5%, and so does the amended Act. If a broker or an article tells you 1%, they are reading an eleven-year-old PDF.

What the duty is actually charged on

Not necessarily the price you agreed. Stamp duty is assessed on the value determined by the Chief Government Valuer, and the transfer forms go to the Valuation Division for that assessment before you pay anything. If the valuer puts the land above the price on your agreement, the duty follows the valuer.

So treat the figure this calculator gives you as an estimate built on the value you typed in. It tells you the order of magnitude to budget for, and it tells you exactly which fixed fees are coming. It cannot tell you what the valuer will decide.

Who pays what

Schedule 3 of the Stamp Duty Act says who bears the cost of stamping an instrument, and it is more specific than most people expect. A sale of land is a conveyance, and on a conveyance the duty falls on the grantee, meaning the buyer. On a lease, it falls on the lessee, the tenant. On an exchange, the parties split it equally. On a transfer of shares, the purchaser.

Every one of those rules is prefaced with the words “in the absence of an agreement to the contrary”. That is not a technicality. It means the split shown above is the default the law applies when your sale agreement is silent, and the parties are free to agree something else entirely. If your agreement says the seller pays the stamp duty, the seller pays the stamp duty. Read what you are signing.

The buyer’s side

Stamp duty on the transfer, the registration fee for the transfer, and the registry search that tells you who is really on the title. If the purchase is financed, add stamp duty on the mortgage, charged on the loan amount rather than the property value, and the fee to register that mortgage. Then the buyer’s own advocate.

The seller’s side

Lighter, in ministry fees at least. Where the land is leasehold and consent to transfer is needed, the consent fee typically falls to the seller as the party obtaining it. Beyond that it is the seller’s own advocate and any brokerage they agreed.

The numbers this tool refuses to guess

Advocates’ fees and agent commission are left as empty fields with no suggested figure. Ugandan property articles routinely print “typically 1 to 3 per cent”, but there is no schedule behind that in the sources we could verify, and brokerage in particular is pure convention negotiated case by case. Put your own quote in and it will be added to the right side of the split.

There is no capital gains line either. Uganda has no separate capital gains tax, since gains come into income tax instead. URA’s published guidance on that covers business assets, shares and commercial buildings, and says nothing about someone selling their own home. As that is exactly who uses a tool like this, computing a number would be guessing. If the property was a business asset, ask URA or a tax adviser.

Before you pay anyone

Do a search at the land registry first. It costs a fixed fee, it takes a couple of days, and it tells you who is registered as proprietor and whether there is a caveat or a mortgage sitting on the title. It is the cheapest line on this entire calculator and the only one that can save you the whole purchase price.

Since December 2021, where the land is worth UGX 10 million or more, both the buyer and the seller must each hold a TIN. It is not a cost, but it will stop the transfer if either party has not got one, so sort it out early rather than at the registry counter.

The ministry fees here come from the MLHUD Clients’ Charter covering financial years to 2026/27. Charters get revised, and stamp duty can change by amendment Act at any Budget, so check the current charter and URA’s stamp duty page if you are reading this well after that.

The order this actually happens in

1. Search the land registry first, to confirm who is registered as proprietor and whether a caveat or mortgage sits on the title.
2. The Chief Government Valuer assesses the land, since stamp duty is charged on that assessed value, not necessarily the agreed price.
3. Pay stamp duty at 1.5% of the assessed value, plus the registration fee, on the transfer.
4. Register the transfer, and register any mortgage taken to finance the purchase.
5. Where the land is worth UGX 10 million or more, both buyer and seller must each hold a TIN before the transfer can go through.