Browsing: Doing business in Tanzania

Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania. www.theexchange.africa

Tax relief or a better legal framework for SMEs and start-ups would have been a major milestone for Tanzania’s private sector development agenda, however, the Finance Act does not address the heavy burden that start-ups and SMEs face when doing business in Tanzania and furthermore the proposed allocation of local government to the improvement of local entrepreneurship infrastructure was proposed, it was subsequently removed along with the contribution of local government finances to women entrepreneurs as well.

It would have been an opportunity for the Finance Act to enact amendments to certain Anti-Money Laundering Act and Economic Crimes Act provisions that treat tax offences as economic crimes or money laundering offences that are unbailable offences when they should be treated as tax offences that attract hefty fines and/or penalties.

Other areas that could have been amended are the problematic provisions of the Tax Administration Act including section 52(10) which provides …

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan with United States Vice President Kamala Harris. Americans investing in Tanzania stand to gain from a US$1 billion investment opportunity in Tanzania. www.theexchange.africa

President Suluhu Hassan has welcomed American investors in her bid to “set the tone for creating the safe lending for investors”.

By 2021, Tanzania led in East Africa in the number of FDI attracted from the US to Tanzania, followed by Kenya and Uganda.

Over the past years, there was deterioration in Tanzania’s business and investment sector that marred the nation’s attractiveness.

The latter brought Tanzania to rank 141 out of 190 countries on the 2020 World Bank Ease of Doing Business Report, which the International Trade Administration argued to be the lowest among the nation’s peers.

Hence, President Suluhu Hassan’s administration is addressing the latter. Her government has now substantially improved cross border trading with its neighbouring nations, dealing with unrealistic taxes, unnecessary bureaucracy, delayed refunds and unfriendly administration of taxes.…

Bank of Tanzania - The Exchange (www.theexchange.africa)

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has reassured customers and stakeholders of the China Commercial Bank Ltd. in Dar es Salaam that their interests are safe and secured.

“We want the public and all stakeholders to know that their money is safe and secure,” said a BoT source (name withheld).

The source went on to state that, as the official press statement from the bank says, all the stakeholders’ interests will be protected.

However, customers will not be able to carry out any transactions for the 3 months’ period that the bank will be closed.

On the morning of 19th November 2020, the central bank of Tanzania (BoT) announced that ‘following of China Commercial Bank Limited to meet regulatory requirements regarding capital adequacy, the Bank of Tanzania has, pursuant to powers conferred to it under Section 56(1)(g)(i) and (iii) of the country’s Banking and Financial Institutions Act 2006, taken over …

TAX

Tanzania has introduced the use of Electronic Tax Stamps (ETS) water bottles and soft, carbonated drinks. The move is meant to add on to the already registered increase in tax collection.

The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) reported earlier this year that it has seen a 34 percent increase in revenue collection thanks to the use of the Electronic Tax Stamps (ETS) on branded products.

The ETS system was first rolled out in Tanzania early last year (15 Jan 2019) after regulations was passed to have all manufacturers in the country install an electronic tax stamp management system.

The tender went to a Swiss-based firm called SICPA which was contracted by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to install and enroll all manufacturers, producers and importers onto the system.

To start with, the electronic stamps were used for cigarettes, wines, spirits, beer and other alcoholic beverages. It then begun to be applied …