TAX REGISTRATION
Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS), a semi-autonomous body is responsible for registration of tax payments. BURS offices are countrywide. You may be required to register to five types of taxes through the BURS offices:

  • Company Tax
  • Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
  • Capital Transfer Tax
  • VAT – (Value Added Tax)
  • Withholding taxes (concerning dividends, management fees, etc.).

The Company Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT)

All taxes are registered using the same official forms. Before paying corporate tax, the applicant is must to declare whether any charges will be withheld, in which the withholding tax registration included. Registration for the Value Added Tax (VAT) is possible once corporate tax registration has been completed.

If the projected or planned annual turnover does not reach P500,000, a firm applying for VAT is required to write a letter requesting to be registered voluntarily. No additional supporting explanation is needed.

The registration process usually takes 5-10 days, following which the company will be issued with a Tax Identification Number (TIN).

Individual Tax Registration
The threshold for your personal income tax is P2,499.00 per month.

Tax return date in Botswana: 30 September
Tax year ends for individuals: 30 June

Personal income tax in Botswana

Taxation of residents in Botswana
Botswana uses progressive tax rates, from five per cent to 25%. The first 36,000BWP is tax exempt. The highest marginal progressive tax rate of 25 per cent is applied to taxable income higher than 144,000BWP.

Non-Resident taxpayers
The non-residents in Botswana must comply with the same rules as the residents. The difference is that for non-residents, even the first 36,000 BWP income is taxed as well, no exemption applies.

An individual becomes (generally) tax resident in Botswana if he/she stays more than 183 days per year in the country.

Salary earned abroad is ordinarily not-taxed in Botswana. Dividends from foreign sources are subject to income tax at a rate of 15%. However, foreigners, who are residents in Botswana do not pay tax after their foreign investment income, as interest and capital gains. Meanwhile, dividends from Botswana are subject to withholding tax at 7,5%. Rental income counts as business income.

 

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