18 Mar 2015

All businesses, which have an annual turnover of P1 million or more, are required to register for VAT unless they are specifically exempted from registration in terms of the VAT legislation.

Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Kenneth Matambo, told Parliament that once a business had been registered for VAT purposes, it was required to comply with the provisions of the said act through filing tax returns and payments of the VAT collected to BURS. 

He said any business that failed to comply with its VAT obligations would be committing an offence for which stringent fines and penalties were prescribed in accordance with the VAT legislation. Mr Matambo said the Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) routinely inspected businesses countrywide to determine their VAT compliance. 

Further, the minister said any person who may be aware that a business that was liable to register for VAT or any other tax which was administered by BURS had not done so they may report the matter to BURS for follow up action.

Minister Matambo told Parliament that he was not aware that most Chinese businesses in Botswana had not registered for VAT. The minister said VAT registration was not done according to the nationality of the Shareholders/ Directors of business.

He was responding to a question from the MP for Francistown West, Mr Ignatius Moswaane who had asked the minister whether he was aware that most Chinese businesses in Botswana had not registered for VAT and what the minister would do to normalise the situation. ENDS