Tanzania VAT registration threshold

What this value means

PERIOD BASIS: Mainland Tanzania. Three tests in s.28, VAT Act Cap 148: (1) forward — registered from the first day of a month if there is reasonable ground to expect turnover in the twelve-month period commencing at the beginning of the previous month to equal or exceed the threshold (s.28(1)); (2) backward — turnover equal to or greater than the threshold in the twelve months ending at the end of the previous month (s.28(2)(a)); (3) six-month limb — turnover equal to or greater than one half of the threshold (TZS 100 million) in the six months ending at the end of the previous month (s.28(2)(b)). The threshold amount itself is prescribed by regulation under s.28(4). SECOND LIMB: Six-month limb, s.28(2)(b): turnover equal to or greater than one half of the registration threshold (TZS 100,000,000) in the period of six months ending at the end of the previous month NON-ESTABLISHED SUPPLIERS: Nil threshold in practice. A non-resident carrying on economic activity without a fixed place in Mainland Tanzania who makes a taxable supply must appoint a VAT representative (s.64(1) VAT Act Cap 148) and register; for electronic services, s.68(5) (as cited by TRA) allows non-residents to register directly without a tax representative under the simplified online regime, and TRA states in terms: 'There is no registration threshold.' IMPORTED DIGITAL SERVICES: Non-resident electronic service providers register under the simplified online portal per the Value Added Tax (Registration of Non-Resident Electronic Service Providers/Suppliers) Regulations, 2022 (as amended 2023): TRA's Digital Service Tax page states 'There is no registration threshold', VAT at 18%, monthly return and payment by the 20th of the following month, no input tax credit, EFD exemption; a separate 2% income tax (DST) applies to payments from individuals via digital means. Traps: (1) the TZS 200m figure lives in regulation 14 of the VAT (General) Regulations 2015, NOT in the Act — many secondary sources wrongly attribute it to the Finance Act 2023 (the EY Finance Act 2023 alert contains no threshold change); (2) six-month limb: TZS 100m in 6 months triggers registration even below the annual figure (s.28(2)(b)); (3) nil-threshold classes under s.29: suppliers of professional services (licensed/registered professions), Government entities carrying on economic activity, and Commissioner-registered intending traders; (4) turnover includes imported services the person receives (s.28(5)(b)) — a pure importer of services can be dragged over the threshold; capital-asset and going-concern sales are excluded (s.28(6)); (5) this is Mainland-only: Zanzibar has its own VAT Act with a separate (TZS 100 million) threshold — a 'Tanzania' engine must split the two; (6) TRA states deregistration is available where taxable turnover falls below the registration threshold (s.42/s.43 route), same figure. Researched against the primary instrument and then attacked by an independent adversarial verification pass before being served (2026-08-08). Where that pass refuted a citation, the correction it proved has been applied; no headline threshold was refuted.

Get it programmatically

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

Other Tanzania series: Bank of Tanzania central bank rate · VAT standard rate · Private-sector minimum wage (lowest sectoral rate) · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate income tax rate · Withholding tax rates · Statutory late-payment interest · Personal income tax brackets · Statutory social-insurance contributions

The same figure elsewhere: Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Algeria · all 34