Botswana - Refund on Value Added Tax

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Procedure

Apply In Person

1. Where it has been established that in the goods declaration or in the assessment of the customs duties and/or VAT there has been a collection or recovery of an amount of customs duties and/or VAT less or more than that legally payable, BURS usually accepts correction of the errors and collect or refunds the amount underpaid or overpaid. BURS Regional Offices Location & Contact Details
2. The taxpayer will be required to collect and complete the Refund application form, issued for free at the BURS regional offices countrywide.
3. Upon obtaining the appropriate application form, the applicant should legibly complete the form, and attach all relevant supporting documentation as listed under the “Required Documents” section of this page.
4. The complete application file must be submitted to the BURS customs office where the transaction that resulted in the need for a refund was processed, within 6 months and 3 months for customs duties and VAT respectively from the date of payment.
5. Upon receipt of the application, the BURS customs officer will check for discrepancies or ineligibility in the application documents. If a discrepancy that cannot be immediately corrected exists in any of the documents, the application and all the submitted documents will be returned to the applicant and should not be re-submitted until the discrepancy has been rectified.
6. Upon successful submission of the refund application, the applicant will receive an acknowledgment receipt and receive further communication from the Botswana Revenue Authority (BURS).
7. The Botswana Revenue Authority will evaluate the claim made by the applicant and if the refund claim is valid, the Botswana Revenue Authority will process the VAT refund and deposit the amount to the applicant’s bank account.
8. The BURS Customs sends an e-mail notification to the applicant, notifying the taxpayer of the outcome of the request.
9. Where a refund claim is rejected, the applicant will be notified.

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Required Documents

• A copy of the Customs bill of entry relating to the importation/exportation of such goods.
• All supporting documents used at the time of import/export, including invoices, transport documents, and exemption certificates.
• A copy of the BURS receipt issued at the time of payment
• Comprehensive worksheet indicating how the duty amount claimed was calculated
• Examination report/certificate by customs Officer
• A Voucher of Correction, SAD 503
• Original destruction certificate, where goods have been destroyed under Customs supervision, where necessary
• Any other document as BURS may request.

Office Locations & Contacts

Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS)
BURS Regional Offices Location & Contact Details
Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) website

Eligibility

All registered taxpayers/companies/businesses/investors are eligible to apply.
VAT returns are divided into two categories;

• Category  A & B are taxpayers whose turnover is less than P12m  and
• Category  C are taxpayers whose turnover is P12m  Filing Time Individuals The returns dispatched at the end of June are expected back before the end of September.

Fees

• No fees are associated with the service.

Validity

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e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

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Sample Documents

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Processing Time

• BURS will acknowledge receipt of your refund application 'Instantly' upon submission and will notify you about your refund application status within 30 working days after receiving all the necessary information.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is dkisplayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

Please provide other instructions related to the certificate/documents.
e.g. The state office holds birth records since January 1908.

Required Information

• Full names of the taxpayer
• Contact details
• Residential address details
• Source of income
• Income details
• Nationality
• Identification documents details
• Property details (if any)
• Bank account details
• Declaration by the applicant

Need for the Document

• Enables taxpayer claims money that was overpaid to BURS in excess of the VAT tax liability to BURS.

Information which might help

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Other uses of the Document/Certificate

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e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

• Refund of Customs Duty and Import VAT
  

Others

More information which might help people.