Business owners and the public are noticed that the Value Added Tax (VAT) will increase from 14 to 15 percent with effect from today as announced by the Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA).
The increase of VAT by one percent was announced by Minister of Finance Minister Martin Dlamini when delivering his budget speech in the House of Assembly on the 1st of March 2018.
The neighbouring country increased its VAT to 15 per cent with effect from February 2018. South Africa is Eswatini’s biggest trading partner thus it would had affected our economy should we had not taken the same route.
Minister Dlamini then issued the Value Added Tax Rates (Amendment) Regulations Notice No. 112 of 2018, under Section 84 (2) of the Value Added Tax Act No. 12 of 2011, and effected the increase.
According to SRA’s website, consumers and businesses that are not registered for VAT will now be charged 15 percent VAT from August 1(today).
“The increased rate will be reflected on tax invoices that must be issued by the vendor to the customer or purchaser. The tax burden is borne by the end-consumer. Taxable persons (VAT vendors) should configure their billing systems to charge 15 percent. Tax invoices (including cash register slips) must reflect the new rate. The tax burden is still passed onto the final consumer,” states SRA on its website.
