Ethiopia VAT registration threshold

What this value means

PERIOD BASIS: a rolling 12-calendar-month window, tested BOTH prospectively and retrospectively (Art. 12(1)): registration is compulsory at the START of any 12-month period if there are reasonable grounds to believe total taxable supplies WILL exceed ETB 2,000,000, and at the END of any 12-month period in which they DID. Art. 12(3): the Ministry of Revenues may aggregate the taxable supplies of RELATED PERSONS in applying the test — splitting a business among relatives or related entities does not escape registration. The Ministry can move the threshold by Directive without amending the Proclamation, so the figure is directive-sensitive. NON-ESTABLISHED SUPPLIERS: the 1341/2024 regime brought non-residents into scope. A person without a fixed place of business in Ethiopia supplying REMOTE SERVICES (including electronic services) to Ethiopian residents is required to register once the same ETB 2,000,000/12-month threshold is exceeded on those supplies — the threshold is not nil, unlike many African digital-services regimes. B2B supplies to a registered Ethiopian recipient are handled by reverse charge; the non-resident regime targets supplies to unregistered customers. Council of Ministers Regulation No. 570/2025 supplies the administrative detail (simplified registration with the Ministry of Revenues, monthly returns, 15% rate, no input-tax recovery under the simplified regime). IMPORTED DIGITAL SERVICES: remote/electronic services supplied through an ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION PLATFORM are deemed supplied by the PLATFORM OPERATOR, which registers and accounts for the VAT in place of the underlying merchants (deemed-supplier rule); the same applies to electronically ordered low-value goods in defined cases. VAT is 15%. The regime applies to supplies to Ethiopian consumers determined by residence/consumption proxies. Traps: (1) The threshold moved from ETB 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 on the new Proclamation — pre-2024 sources cite the old figure. (2) The test is FORWARD-LOOKING as well as backward: reasonable expectation at the start of a 12-month period triggers liability before any sale is made. (3) Related-person aggregation (Art. 12(3)) defeats turnover-splitting. (4) The Ministry can change the amount by Directive, not statute — check for a current Directive before relying on 2,000,000. (5) Non-resident remote-service providers get the SAME 2m threshold, but only supplies to Ethiopian customers count, and platform supplies shift the duty to the platform. (6) Regulation No. 570/2025 (in force 17 March 2025) left transitional and scope questions open (commentators noted unclear aspects); voluntary registration below the threshold remains available under the Proclamation. (7) A September 2025 Ministry of Revenues directive broadened enforced registration for certain businesses/professionals regardless of the threshold debate — sector-specific mandatory registration can bite below 2m.

Earlier values

Get it programmatically

curl https://afriref.dev/v1/et/vat-registration-threshold
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History:    curl https://afriref.dev/v1/et/vat-registration-threshold/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/et/vat-registration-threshold

Other Ethiopia series: NBE National Bank Rate (policy rate) · VAT standard rate · National minimum wage (none in force) · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate income tax rate · Withholding tax rates · Legal interest / interest for default · Personal income tax brackets · Statutory social-insurance contributions

The same figure elsewhere: Gabon · Ghana · Kenya · Lesotho · Mali · all 34