Botswana VAT registration threshold
Botswana VAT registration threshold is 500000 BWP, in force since 1 Apr 2015. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
The turnover at which VAT/GST registration becomes compulsory in Botswana, with the period the test runs over, the rule for non-established suppliers, and any separate treatment of imported digital services.
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| Current value | 500000 BWP |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2015-04-01 |
| Official source | Value Added Tax Act (Cap 50:03), registration threshold of P500,000 of annual taxable supplies, as stated by BURS ('Any person who makes taxable supplies above P500,000 per annum is required to register for VAT') and carried into the non-resident remote-services regime by the VAT (Remote Services) Regulations 2026 (SI 74/2026) at the same BWP 500,000 |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | secondary — Corroborated, but the primary instrument was NOT read (usually the publishing host blocks automated access). The operative statutory section of Cap 50:03 fixing P500,000 was not read verbatim — BURS' own published statute PDF is a stale pre-2010 consolidation, so the figure rests on BURS' current guidance and the 2026 SIs that restate the same BWP 500,000 for the remote-services regime (verified 2026-08-10 in the re-verification of bw/vat). Sight of the current consolidated section or the 2015 amendment act in the Gazette would lift this to primary. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
PERIOD BASIS: annual value of taxable supplies exceeding BWP 500,000 (raised from P250,000 to P500,000 by the 2015 amendment, with effect from 1 April 2015 per BURS guidance); the test runs over a 12-month period, with registration application to BURS on crossing. Voluntary registration below the threshold is available. NON-ESTABLISHED SUPPLIERS: since 1 June 2026 (VAT (Amendment) Act No. 16 of 2025, commenced by BURS public notice of 29 May 2026), non-resident suppliers of remote/electronic services over the SAME BWP 500,000 threshold could register from 1 June 2026 and begin CHARGING VAT on 1 October 2026 (VAT (Remote Services) Regulations 2026, SI 74/2026). Before that regime, non-established suppliers had no registration route and supplies were reached at importation or not at all. IMPORTED DIGITAL SERVICES: the remote-services regime above is the B2C rail (charging from 1 October 2026). The B2B/complementary limb commenced 1 AUGUST 2026: government entities and large unregistered persons (turnover above BWP 1,000,000) register, and existing registrants reverse-charge imported remote services (VAT (Government Entities and Large Unregistered Persons) Regulations 2026, SI 73/2026). The two commencement dates are routinely conflated — 1 August is the government/reverse-charge limb, 1 October is non-resident charging. Traps: (1) BURS' own consolidated statute PDF prints a pre-2010 text (s 7(1) at '10 percent') and its VAT web page long carried the lapsed 12% rate — neither is a safe source for current figures; BURS notices and the SIs govern. (2) A wholly new Value Added Tax Act, 2026 (No. 15 of 2026) was gazetted 1 July 2026 but carries blank assent/commencement lines and commences only by ministerial order — Cap 50:03 as amended remains the operative statute; verify the threshold again when the 2026 Act is commenced. (3) The BWP 1,000,000 figure in SI 73/2026 is the large-unregistered-person registration limb, not a general threshold. (4) Private healthcare providers over the threshold were required to register by 31 July 2026 and charge from 1 August 2026 — a sector-specific commencement inside the same reform. (5) The BURS 29 May 2026 public notice PDF 404s on burs.org.bw; its text survives verbatim in mirrored professional advisories.
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/bw/vat-registration-threshold
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/bw/vat-registration-threshold/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/bw/vat-registration-thresholdOther Botswana series: Monetary Policy Rate (MoPR) · VAT standard rate · 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