Before you start

A BURS taxpayer registration
A determination of whether you are resident for tax purposes
Employment records or business accounts
Records of any foreign-source income

Step-by-step

1
Register with BURS
Registration produces your taxpayer identification number and gives access to the online filing system. Your employer operates PAYE, but the registration is yours.
OnlineWho: YouFirst month
2
Establish whether you are resident
The resident and non-resident scales differ materially at the bottom — residents get BWP 48,000 free, non-residents get nothing and pay 5% from the first pula. Both reach 25% above BWP 156,000. Get your position confirmed rather than assumed.
OnlineWho: You
3
Check the PAYE deduction against the current scale
The resident scale is 0% to BWP 48,000, 5% to 84,000, 12.5% to 120,000, 18.75% to 156,000, and 25% above that. Thresholds are adjusted from time to time in the budget, so verify against BURS rather than a saved spreadsheet.
Via employerWho: You
4
Understand the source basis
Botswana taxes income from a Botswana source. That is a genuinely different starting point from a worldwide-income system, and it matters for anyone with investments, property or pensions elsewhere. Take advice in the first year if that applies to you.
OnlineWho: You
5
File your annual return
The tax year runs to 30 June and individual returns are filed after it. Employees taxed entirely through PAYE may have a simple filing; anyone with additional income files properly.
OnlineWho: YouAnnually after 30 June
6
Know which groceries are zero-rated
Under the VAT Act 2026 in force from 1 July 2026, maize meal, sorghum, millet, wheat grain, rice, samp, brown bread and bread flours, sugar, cooking oil, maize cobs and specified fresh fruit and vegetables are zero-rated — but only supplied in their natural state and not mixed with other products. Prepared and processed versions of the same foods carry the standard 14%.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

BURS taxpayer identification number
Payslips and the employer's PAYE records
Records of foreign-source income
Residence and work permits
Business accounts, for the self-employed

Things most newcomers don’t know

A 25% top marginal rate makes Botswana one of the lighter personal tax regimes in the region.

South Africa's top rate is 45%, Namibia's 37%, Ghana's 35% and Nigeria's 25% only from 2026 and on very high income. Botswana tops out at 25% above BWP 156,000 with the first BWP 48,000 free. Combined with a source basis rather than worldwide taxation, that makes the after-tax position for a professional here noticeably better than the headline salary comparison suggests — which is worth modelling before dismissing an offer as low.

Source: Botswana Unified Revenue Service; PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries

Non-residents lose the tax-free band entirely, and that is the whole difference at the bottom.

Botswana's non-resident scale starts at 5% on the first pula, where residents pay nothing until BWP 48,000. Both reach 25% above BWP 156,000, so the gap is concentrated at the lower end and is fixed rather than proportional. For a short assignment on a modest salary it is a meaningful sum, and it is another reason to establish your residence status formally rather than letting payroll assume.

Source: PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries

The zero-rated food list is real, specific, and only applies to food in its natural state.

The Value Added Tax Act, 2026, which commenced on 1 July 2026, carries a revised list of zero-rated foodstuffs — grains, brown bread and bread flours, sugar, cooking oil and named fresh fruit and vegetables. The qualification is that the items must be supplied in their natural state and not mixed with other products, so fresh potatoes are zero-rated and prepared potato products are not. It is a genuine cost-of-living measure and it explains why a basic grocery basket here is cheaper than the 14% headline suggests.

Source: Botswana Unified Revenue Service

Source-based taxation is the structural feature, and people from worldwide systems keep missing it.

Botswana taxes income arising from a Botswana source rather than taxing residents on everything they earn globally. For someone with rental property, dividends or a pension elsewhere, that is a materially different position from the UK, the US, South Africa or Nigeria — and the interaction with your home country's rules, and any double tax agreement, is where the actual answer lives. Get first-year advice rather than assuming either that you owe nothing or that you owe everything.

Source: Botswana Unified Revenue Service

Common mistakes to avoid

Letting payroll apply the wrong residence status and losing the BWP 48,000 free band.
Using a saved tax table after a budget adjusts the thresholds.
Assuming worldwide taxation and over-declaring, or assuming no obligation at all.
Missing the 30 June tax year end and treating it as a calendar year.
Assuming all food is zero-rated when the relief only covers items in their natural state.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.