Burundi ties VAT deduction and refund to invoices reported to the OBR EBMS in the 2026/2027 Finance Law
- Jurisdiction
- Burundi
- Tax
- VAT
- Change type
- Invoice rules
- Status
- In force
- Impact
- Action required
- Announced
- 30 June 2026
- Effective
- 1 July 2026
- Authority
- Office Burundais des Recettes (OBR)
- Systems
- Invoicing, ERP, Reporting
- Verified
- Fetched from official source · medium confidence
VAT-registered businesses in Burundi claiming input VAT, and importers of goods or raw materials for resale or industrial use.
Make sure purchase invoices are EBMS-issued and paid by traceable means (above BIF 500,000) before claiming input VAT; importers must hold a recognised e-invoicing system.
InvoicingERPReporting
Burundi's 2026/2027 Finance Law (article 99) makes deduction or refund of VAT conditional on verification that the VAT was paid: the VAT must appear on an electronic invoice sent to the OBR Electronic Billing Management System (EBMS) database at the time of issue, and an invoice above BIF 500,000 must have bank or electronic traceability. Article 100 requires any importer of goods or raw materials intended for resale or industrial use to prove it holds an electronic invoicing system recognised by the tax administration, under modalities to be set by ministerial order. Applies to the 2026/2027 budget year from 1 July 2026.
What changed in detail
The measure is in Burundi’s Finance Law for the 2026/2027 budget year, Loi n°1/10 of 30 June 2026, which entered into force on 1 July 2026 (article 277).
Article 99 of Burundi’s 2026/2027 Finance Law makes the deduction or refund of VAT conditional on verification that the VAT was paid. The VAT must appear on an electronic invoice sent to the database of the OBR Electronic Billing Management System (EBMS) at the time of issue, and an invoice above BIF 500,000 must have bank or electronic traceability.
Article 100 requires any importer of goods or raw materials intended for resale or industrial use to prove that it holds an electronic invoicing system recognised by the tax administration, under modalities to be set by ministerial order.
The provisions apply to the 2026/2027 budget year from 1 July 2026.
What it means
Input VAT claims now depend on the supplier’s invoice having reached the EBMS at the time of issue, which a buyer cannot control. Buyers should check that suppliers issue EBMS-registered invoices and pay larger invoices by traceable means, since an untraceable invoice above BIF 500,000 puts the deduction at risk. Importers should expect further detail from the ministerial order on the electronic invoicing proof.
Proof
En outre, la facture dépassant un montant de cinq cent mille francs burundais (500 000 BIF) doit avoir une traçabilité bancaire ou électronique.Moreover, an invoice exceeding five hundred thousand Burundian francs (BIF 500,000) must have bank or electronic traceability.
Archived from the official distribution · Loi n°1/10 portant fixation du budget général de l'État pour l'exercice 2026/2027 (promulgated text, OBR copy) · www.obr.bi