Tanzania zero-rates gold supplied to the Bank of Tanzania and to licensed refineries from 1 July 2024

What changed in detail

Section 109 of Tanzania’s Finance Act, 2024 (Act No. 6 of 2024) inserts two new sections into the Value Added Tax Act (Cap. 148) immediately after section 55B:

• Section 55C provides that a supply of gold to the Bank of Tanzania shall be zero rated.
• Section 55D provides that a supply of gold to a licensed refinery in Mainland Tanzania shall be zero rated.

The Act was assented to and published in the Special Gazette on 30 June 2024 and, under its section 2, came into operation on 1 July 2024. Neither new section carries an end date, unlike the time-limited zero-rating in sections 55A and 55B, which the same Act extended to 30 June 2025.

In the same Act, section 110(d) deletes the word “refineries,” from item 25 of Part I of the VAT Schedule, the exemptions list.

What it means

Sections 55C and 55D were still in the VAT Act in November 2026: neither the Finance Act 2025 (Act No. 11 of 2025) nor the Finance Act 2026 (Act No. 2 of 2026) amends them.

Zero-rating is not an exemption. A seller supplying gold to the Bank of Tanzania or to a licensed refinery charges VAT at 0% and can still recover the input VAT it paid. The relief turns on the buyer: a domestic sale to an unlicensed refinery or to any other dealer falls outside both sections.