On 3 March 2023, the Ministry of Finance (“Ministry”) published the Transfer Duty Bill for consideration by the National Assembly of Botswana. The objective of the Transfer Duty Bill is to recommend changes to the prevailing transfer duty regime in Botswana. More particularly, the Transfer Duty Bill proposes the:
- reduction of the transfer duty payable by non-citizens in immovable property transactions to 10% – 15% from
the current 30%; - exclusion of transfer duty in respect of new allocations of tribal and state land;
- use of local council valuations and independent valuations to determine the transfer duty payable on
properties located on tribal land; and - exemption of certain persons from paying transfer duty.
[ Read more ]