Botswana: BURS guidance on reporting reverse-charged VAT and recipient-created invoices, from August 2026

What changed in detail

The Botswana Unified Revenue Service published a Guidance Note dated September 2026 on reporting VAT on reverse-charged supplies. It covers VAT-registered persons, government entities and large unregistered persons (annual supplies above P 1,000,000 who are not ordinarily registered), including remote services from suppliers outside Botswana.

A registered recipient must prepare a recipient-created tax invoice (section 59(4), VAT Act 2026) and notify a non-resident remote-services supplier in writing of its registration (section 64).

Category A and C registrants report from August 2026, with payment due by 28 October 2026; Category B registrants report from September 2026, with payment due 28 November 2026. Supplies received before those months are reported on Form VAT.017.1. These start months are for registrants: government entities and large unregistered persons take their start date from their registration approval letter.

What it means

The recipient carries the paperwork: it must issue its own tax invoice at the time of supply and, for remote services, write to the non-resident supplier about its registration. Registrants should confirm their category, since the reporting start month and payment date differ between Categories A and C and Category B. Supplies received earlier belong on a separate form, Form VAT.017.1, rather than on the new reporting route.