03 November 2022

Tanzania’s government has scrapped its mobile money transfer levy from 1 October, just three months after the government slashed the levy by 43%.

Aside from mobile money transfers, Tanzania will remove the fee for bank transfers and waive the transaction fee on cash withdrawals through bank agents and ATMs for values less than TZS30,000.

Scrapped levies will also include those on money transferred from bank accounts to mobile networks, money transferred within the same bank, as well as money transferred from one bank to another. In order to cover the revenue lost from the cancelled levies, the government is looking to cut expenditure on things such as conferences, training, refreshments, and trips.

“We have decided to review the levies to reduce the burden on society, to foster cash transactions and avoid double taxation,” said finance and planning minister Mwigulu Nchemba.

The minister also announced a 10-50% cut on mobile money transaction costs. The maximum levy currently stands at TZS4,000 and with the cut, the maximum levy will be halved to TZS2,000.

The levy slashes come as the government aims to encourage its citizens to return to using mobile money services. People stopped using the services when the government introduced a transaction levy in the financial year 2021/2022.