Lesotho Withholding tax rates
Lesotho Withholding tax rates: no single figure applies. The reason is set out below, cited to the governing instrument. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
The withholding taxes Lesotho levies on Lesotho-source payments to non-residents - passive income (dividends, interest, royalties, natural resource payments, management charges) under section 107 of the Income Tax Act 1993 and payments under Lesotho-source services contracts under section 108 - each at its domestic statutory rate before any double-tax agreement relief. Administered by the Revenue Services Lesotho (RSL).
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| Current value | structured — see the API |
|---|---|
| In force from | — |
| Official source | RSL Income Tax Public Ruling Issue 1 - Withholding Taxes (Income Tax Act No. 9 of 1993 as amended, sections 107, 108, 157, 158 and 160): section 107 table lists Dividends 25%, Interest 25%, Natural Resource Payment 25%, Management fee 25%, Royalty 25%; 'where dividend is paid out of manufacturing income, no withholding tax is payable. Further where, the royalty is paid for the use of technology that produces manufacturing income subject to tax in Lesotho, the rate of withholding tax is 15%'; section 108 services table: '10% For all items in this category' |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
THERE IS NO SINGLE WITHHOLDING TAX RATE, WHICH IS WHY value IS NULL. Lesotho withholds under two distinct heads for non-residents - section 107 passive income at 25% (with manufacturing-linked carve-outs at 0% and 15%) and section 108 services-contract payments at 10%. A caller wanting a number must name which payment type; read withholding_rates rather than expecting a headline figure. ALL RATES ARE DOMESTIC STATUTORY RATES, BEFORE TREATY RELIEF. A double-tax agreement can reduce any of them, often substantially (the RSL ruling itself tabulates DTA rates of 10%/15% alongside the domestic 25%), and whether relief is available depends on the recipient's residence and the treaty's terms. We do NOT serve treaty rates: they are bilateral, run to many country pairs, and applying one is a legal determination rather than a lookup. WITHHOLDING UNDER BOTH SECTIONS IS 'OPTIONAL' AS TO FINALITY: the RSL ruling marks the non-resident heads 'Optional' - the recipient may treat the withholding as final or file a return and treat it as a prepayment. The ruling (Issue 1, dated April 2010) is the most recent RSL statement of these rates; a Lesotho tax guide effective 1 April 2025 (Mayet & Associates) still states 25% on non-resident dividends, interest and royalties, so the rates are confirmed current. Section 157's 5% resident-contractor withholding and section 158's 10% resident-interest withholding apply to RESIDENTS and are noted here only to avoid confusion - they are not non-resident heads.
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/ls/withholding-tax
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/ls/withholding-tax/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/ls/withholding-taxOther Lesotho series: CBL Rate (Central Bank of Lesotho policy rate) · VAT standard rate · VAT registration threshold · Sectoral minimum wages (basic minimum wages by sector and category) · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Company income tax rate (standard, non-manufacturing) · Statutory late-payment interest · Personal income tax rates, threshold and credit · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Mali · Mauritius · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · all 34