On 24 September 2026 BURS published guidance on the reverse-charge mechanism introduced by the Value Added Tax Act, 2025. It sets out how three groups of recipients must account for VAT on services received from suppliers outside Botswana: VAT-registered businesses, government entities and large unregistered persons.
Recipients must separate purchases where the supplier has charged Botswana VAT from purchases where they must account for VAT themselves. The guidance covers recipient-created tax invoices, notifications by VAT-registered persons receiving remote services, registration of government entities and large unregistered persons, and the tax periods that apply.
Government entities and large unregistered persons are told their effective reverse-charge date in their registration approval letters. Supplies received before approval must still be declared on Form VAT.017.1, the declaration of VAT due on imported services.
The guidance confirms that procurement, accounts-payable and tax teams need to capture three data points for every foreign invoice: the supplier’s location, the type of service and the recipient’s VAT status.
What this means for you
- Add supplier country and service type fields to your purchase ledger if they are not there already.
- Government entities and parastatals should confirm their effective date with BURS and train finance staff on Form VAT.017.1.
- Reverse-charged VAT is generally recoverable as input tax for fully taxable businesses, so the cash cost is timing, not the tax itself, if returns are done correctly.
If any of these points apply to your organisation, talk to us. We will tell you what needs to change and what it will take.
BURS: reverse-charge VAT guidance and Form VAT.017.1
Published 24 September 2026. This article is general information, not advice for a specific situation.