On May 9, 2020, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning announced new tax measures to cushion businesses against the effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including:

  • allowing the computation of quarterly corporate and personal income tax prepayments based on business transactions of the current tax period instead of the previous tax period as per the provisions of article 34 of the Income Tax Act. Implementation modalities for this measure will be issued by the Rwanda Revenue Authority;
  • an exemption from employment income tax for a specified period of time for all teachers in private schools and employees of companies operating in the tourism and hotel industry earning a monthly net income not exceeding FRW150 000. The exemption for teachers will apply for a period of six months from April to September 2020 and for hotel and tourism employees for a period of three months from April to June 2020; and
  • an exemption from value-added tax (VAT) for all masks made in Rwanda to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reviewed by Celia Becker, an Executive in ENSafrica's Africa Regulatory and Business Intelligence department.

Originally published 12 May 2020

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