MBABANE – Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) is seeking to ensure wealthy individuals contribute fairly to national development while strengthening domestic revenue mobilisation.
Eswatini is translating African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) research into practical tax reforms.
The move follows the publication of ATAF’s guide to implementing an effective high-net-worth individual (HNWI) taxation regime in Africa, in which Eswatini featured as one of nine African case study countries that informed the continental framework.
The guide has now moved beyond research, with the Eswatini Revenue Service receiving targeted technical assistance to establish a taxation framework specifically designed for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs).
ATAF experts Paul Khanare and Michael Mwaura from the Kenya Revenue Authority recently worked alongside ERS officials to develop a country-specific HNWI taxation strategy tailored to Eswatini’s economic and social context.
The technical mission supported ERS in identifying and defining wealthy taxpayers, strengthening legal and administrative systems, improving taxpayer data utilisation, enhancing compliance risk management and developing an operational strategy that can be implemented over time.
The initiative places Eswatini alongside Lesotho as one of the first ATAF member States transforming continental research into practical tax administration reforms, demonstrating how evidence-based recommendations can strengthen domestic revenue collection.
Across Africa, governments are increasingly seeking sustainable domestic sources of revenue as development financing becomes more constrained and public expenditure continues to rise.
ATAF argues that improving compliance among wealthy individuals represents one of the greatest opportunities to increase tax revenue without imposing additional burdens on ordinary taxpayers.
According to the report, high-net-worth individuals frequently earn income from several sources simultaneously, including company ownership, investments, rental properties, professional services, dividends, capital gains and financial assets.
They also tend to use sophisticated ownership structures and complex financial arrangements that make them more difficult to assess under conventional tax administration systems.
“The taxation of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) has become an increasingly important topic in tax debates globally. Acknowledging that these individuals rarely contribute their fair share in taxes, governments around the world are putting in place systems to bring HNWIs into the tax net and to tackle tax-reduction practices such as aggressive tax planning, as well as enhance fairness and equity in the payment of taxes,” reads the guide in part.
The guide notes that while most African countries successfully collect taxes from salaried employees through Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE), comparatively little revenue is generated from investment income, rental earnings and other wealth-related income streams commonly associated with affluent individuals.
ATAF found that approximately 97 per cent of Eswatini’s personal income tax collections come from PAYE, leaving only 3 per cent generated from other forms of personal income. The finding reflects a tax system that relies heavily on formal employment while capturing comparatively little revenue from investment income, rental earnings and accumulated wealth.
Rather than introducing new taxes, the reforms seek to improve administration of existing tax laws by ensuring wealthy individuals accurately declare all taxable income and comply fully with current legislation.
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