Botswana VAT standard rate
Botswana VAT standard rate is 14 percent, in force since 1 Apr 2023. It was 12 percent before that. Last checked against the official source on 9 Sep 2026.
Value added tax standard rate on taxable supplies, taxable imports and reverse-charged supplies. VAT was introduced in Botswana on 1 July 2002. The Minister of Finance may vary the rate by Order in the Gazette by not more than two percentage points (s 78 of the Value Added Tax Act Cap 50:03; re-enacted as s 84 of the Value Added Tax Act, 2026).
| Current value | 14 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2023-04-01 |
| Official source | Value Added Tax Act, 2026 (No. 15 of 2026), s 7(2): 'The rate of VAT shall be, for — (a) a taxable supply that is a zero-rated supply, zero per cent; and (b) any other taxable supply, a taxable import, or a reverse charged supply, a rate of 14 per cent.' Supplement A, Botswana Government Extraordinary Gazette dated 1st July 2026, published by BURS on its Tax Laws 2026 page |
| Last verified | 2026-09-09 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
TRAP 1 — THE TEMPORARY CUT IS OVER. The rate in force is 14 percent, not 12. Botswana raised VAT from 12 to 14 percent with effect from 1 April 2021 (2021 Budget Speech, para 129), then TEMPORARILY cut it back to 12 percent from 3 August 2022 as a cost-of-living measure using the Minister's two-percentage-point variation power under s 78 of Cap 50:03 (Statutory Instrument No. 96 of 2022, initially six months, later extended). The 2023 Budget Speech (6 February 2023, para 14) records that the reduction 'has since been extended to the end of this financial year' — Botswana's financial year ends 31 March — and the 12 percent rate duly lapsed on 31 March 2023, so 14 percent has applied again from 1 April 2023. TRAP 2 — BURS' OWN VAT PAGE IS STALE. https://www.burs.org.bw/index.php/tax/value-added-tax still states 'Standard rated supplies — These are supplies that are charged VAT at the rate of 12%', a leftover from the 2022-23 concession; it must NOT be used as the rate source. TRAP 3 — BURS' consolidated statute PDF is older still: https://www.burs.org.bw/phocadownload/Revenue_laws/CAP%2050-03%20Value%20Added%20Tax%20Act.pdf prints s 7(1) at '10 percent', i.e. a pre-2010 consolidation. LEGISLATIVE STATE OF PLAY: a wholly new Value Added Tax Act, 2026 (No. 15 of 2026) was gazetted on 1 July 2026, re-enacting the VAT with amendments and repealing Cap 50:03 (s 87) — it keeps the rate at 14 percent. Unlike the Income Tax Act, 2026 and Tax Administration Act, 2026 (both printed with 'Date of Assent: 29.06.2026 / Date of Commencement: 01.07.2026'), the VAT Act, 2026 as gazetted carries BLANK assent and commencement lines, and its s 1 says it 'shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by Order published in the Gazette, appoint' — so on the face of the Gazette it was not yet commenced at confirmation and Cap 50:03 as amended remains the operative statute. Either way the standard rate is 14 percent under both instruments, so the served value is unaffected; the citation above is used because it is the only current, legible official statement of the rate. Registration threshold: taxable supplies above P500,000 a year. Zero-rated goods (from the 2023 amendments) include vegetables, cooking oil, LPG, salt, infant formula, nappies, sanitary pads/tampons, condoms and agricultural implements; private medical services are exempt (providers over the threshold were required to register by 31 July 2026 and charge VAT from 1 August 2026). The VAT (Amendment) Act No. 16 of 2025 extended VAT to non-resident suppliers of remote/digital services and mandates electronic invoicing; per the BURS public notice of 29 May 2026 the Act commenced 1 June 2026, with the VAT (Remote Services) Regulations 2026 (SI 74/2026) and VAT (Government Entities and Large Unregistered Persons) Regulations 2026 (SI 73/2026). TIMELINE, verified 2026-08-10: non-resident remote-service suppliers over the BWP 500,000 threshold could register from 1 June 2026 and begin CHARGING VAT on 1 OCTOBER 2026; the 1 August 2026 commencement belongs to the other limb — government entities and large unregistered persons (turnover > BWP 1m) registering, and existing registrants reverse-charging imported remote services. The BURS notice PDF itself 404s on burs.org.bw; its text survives verbatim in mirrored advisories. The 2026 Budget Speech (para 116) flags a proposal to reduce the zero-rated list to raise the EFFECTIVE VAT rate — watch for that rather than a headline-rate change.
Earlier values
| From | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-08-03 | 12 | Republic of Botswana 2023 Budget Speech (Hon. Peggy O… |
| 2021-04-01 | 14 | Republic of Botswana 2021 Budget Speech (Hon. Dr Thapelo… |
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/bw/vat
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/bw/vat/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/bw/vatOther Botswana series: Monetary Policy Rate (MoPR) · VAT registration threshold · Minimum wage (general hourly rate, scheduled trades) · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate income tax rate · Withholding tax rates · Prescribed rate of interest · Personal income tax brackets (resident individuals) · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Burkina Faso · Cameroon · Central African Republic · Chad · Côte d'Ivoire · all 34