Uganda mobile money charges — send, withdraw, bank, tax explained
Every Uganda MoMo charge at a glance: sending (P2P) with no tax, withdrawal with the 0.5% URA tax, wallet-to-bank, cross-network, and merchant pay. Here is what you actually pay, by transaction type.
The five fee types
Ugandan mobile money has five fee families to keep apart. Conflating them is the source of most confusion, and it is also why users sometimes pay more than they need to.
P2P send (transfer): UGX 100 on small amounts up to UGX 2,000 on large. NO URA tax. Receiving is free. Detail →
Cash withdrawal (agent or ATM): operator fee UGX 330–20,000 + 0.5% URA tax + 15% VAT. By far the most expensive component. Detail →
Wallet-to-bank: flat UGX 1,500 below UGX 125,000, scaling to UGX 11,300 for large transfers. No URA tax on this channel. Detail →
Merchant payment (MoMo Pay): merchant code via *165*3#. No operator fee, no tax. The cheapest way to spend a MoMo balance. Detail →
Cross-network: MTN to Airtel, Airtel to MTN, Wave to either — via national interoperability. Cost close to same-network for higher bands. Detail →
Send schedule (live)
| Band (UGX) | Send fee | To bank |
|---|---|---|
| 500 – 2,500 | UGX 100 | — |
| 2,501 – 5,000 | UGX 100 | UGX 1,500 |
| 5,001 – 15,000 | UGX 500 | UGX 1,500 |
| 15,001 – 30,000 | UGX 500 | UGX 1,500 |
| 30,001 – 45,000 | UGX 500 | UGX 1,500 |
| 45,001 – 60,000 | UGX 500 | UGX 1,500 |
| 60,001 – 125,000 | UGX 1,000 | UGX 1,500 |
| 125,001 – 250,000 | UGX 1,000 | UGX 2,250 |
| 250,001 – 500,000 | UGX 1,000 | UGX 4,100 |
| 500,001 – 1,000,000 | UGX 1,500 | UGX 6,150 |
| 1,000,001 – 2,000,000 | UGX 2,000 | UGX 9,250 |
| 2,000,001 – 4,000,000 | UGX 2,000 | UGX 11,300 |
| 4,000,001 – 5,000,000 | UGX 2,000 | UGX 11,300 |
No URA tax on sending. 15% VAT on the operator fee applies automatically — for a UGX 50,000 send (fee UGX 500), VAT is UGX 75. Total: UGX 575.
Withdrawal schedule (live)
| Band (UGX) | Agent fee | ATM fee |
|---|---|---|
| 500 – 2,500 | UGX 330 | UGX 6 |
| 2,501 – 5,000 | UGX 440 | UGX 1,150 |
| 5,001 – 15,000 | UGX 700 | UGX 1,150 |
| 15,001 – 30,000 | UGX 880 | UGX 1,150 |
| 30,001 – 45,000 | UGX 1,210 | UGX 1,400 |
| 45,001 – 60,000 | UGX 1,500 | UGX 1,400 |
| 60,001 – 125,000 | UGX 1,925 | UGX 2,150 |
| 125,001 – 250,000 | UGX 3,575 | UGX 4,000 |
| 250,001 – 500,000 | UGX 7,000 | UGX 6,650 |
| 500,001 – 1,000,000 | UGX 12,500 | UGX 11,950 |
| 1,000,001 – 2,000,000 | UGX 15,000 | — |
| 2,000,001 – 4,000,000 | UGX 18,000 | — |
| 4,000,001 – 5,000,000 | UGX 20,000 | — |
The 0.5% URA tax on withdrawn value + 15% VAT on the fee add on to every line. See the tax page for detailed math.
How to change what you pay
Three habits reduce the total monthly cost for a Uganda MoMo user. First, pay registered merchants via MoMo Pay (*165*3#) instead of withdrawing cash and paying in bills — saving: the whole withdrawal fee, URA tax and VAT on that fee. For a user spending UGX 200,000/month on merchant purchases, that is about UGX 7,000/month saved.
Second, consolidate cash withdrawals. One UGX 500,000 withdrawal costs UGX 10,550 total; five UGX 100,000 withdrawals cost UGX 13,570. On medium bands, the flat URA tax (0.5%) is dominated by the operator fee that does not scale linearly — so consolidating wins.
Third, compare Wave with MTN/Airtel for your dominant use cases. If your typical withdrawals fall in the UGX 60,001–500,000 bands, the Wave vs MTN gap can reach 30–50% on the operator fee alone (URA tax stays at 0.5% across all operators).