The Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2024 was gazetted and became effective on 15 January 2024. This Amendment increases the tax-exempt portion of certain lump sums payable to employees, as outlined in sections 32(7), 32(10), 32(11), 32(12), 32(14), and the Second Schedule of the Income Tax Act.

In response to these changes, the Botswana Revenue Authority (BURS) has updated the ITW7A online submission file. Key changes include:

• The new CSV file now contains 25 columns (previously 20).
• Pension Payment Date Column – Enter the payment date or leave blank if there’s nothing to declare.
• Pension Total Fund Column – Capture the gross amount in the fund (e.g., P100.00).
• Pension Cash Out Column – Record the amount cashed out by the employee (e.g., P60.00).
• Severance Pay/Gratuity Payment Date – Enter the payment date or leave blank if not applicable.
• Retrenchment Payment Date – Enter the relevant date or leave blank if not applicable.

BURS has confirmed that two templates (CSV files) for online submissions are available on the online platform:

1. the old online ITW7A
   
2. the new online ITW7A

Who must use the new online ITW7A and when?

Any employer impacted by the new legislation who made Retrenchment, Severance, or Pension payments on or after 15 January 2024 must use the updated template. For these employers all assessments from Month 7 (January 2024) onward must be revised and re-uploaded, even if some months are not directly impacted by the new rules. As per the public notice, employers have until 30 November 2024 to resubmit their monthly ITW7A returns using the new template for the periods of January 2024 to June 2024, followed by the submission of the ITW10.

Additionally, the new CSV template will be mandatory for the 2024/2025 tax year (July 2024 – June 2025).

When to use the old online ITW7A?

For any period falling between Month 01 (July 2023) to Month 06 (December 2023) of the 2023/2024 tax year, the old CSV template must be used.