Union vs Non-Union Taxes: TRA, ZRB, and the Island the Premises Sit On

This page is the tax-geography operating file: which taxes are Union matters and which are Zanzibar’s own. It is not a VAT-rate table, not a ZIPA incentive brochure, and not a substitute for the two-registrars page.

• Two companies: Mainland vs Zanzibar setup
• BPRA: register in Zanzibar
• ZIPA: ZIPA, not TISEZA
• Cross-border WHT: withholding

As at 10 September 2026. Confirm tra.go.tz and zanrevenue.go.tz (Zanzibar Revenue Authority, which replaced the former Zanzibar Revenue Board). This page publishes no rate.

The split, in operator language

The United Republic’s Constitution and tax statutes treat some taxes as Union. Practitioner orientation, confirm live, treats income tax and customs duty as Union. Excise on supplies made in Zanzibar is charged under Zanzibar's own Excise Duty Act No. 8 of 2017 through ZRA, while excise on imports is collected at customs. Zanzibar administers its own value-added tax and other domestic taxes through ZRA. A Mainland TRA VAT file does not finish a Stone Town hotel’s Zanzibar VAT file.

If a later statute moved a tax across that line, the statute wins and this paragraph yields. Do not freeze a 2018 textbook as 2026 law. Open the live desks.

What each desk actually is

TISEZA is Mainland investment facilitation. It does not collect Zanzibar VAT. It does not replace ZRA. The TISEZA operating guides on this site are Mainland files. Do not paste them onto a Zanzibar hotel.

Payroll, PAYE and social security

PAYE on Mainland employment is a TRA file. Zanzibar employment can meet Zanzibar payroll rules. Social security (NSSF and related funds) has its own geography. Confirm where the employee actually works, not where the holding company sits. A GM sitting in Stone Town on a Mainland payroll is how you meet two desks.

Work permits follow the same split: Mainland Labour/Immigration versus Zanzibar’s own authorisations. See the work-permit keepers. This page is why those keepers exist.

Customs is Union; the premises still matter

Goods entering through Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar ports still meet Union customs. That does not make the hotel’s restaurant supplies a Mainland VAT-only story. Import VAT treatment can still split. Confirm the live entry and the live VAT desk for the person who will use the goods.

Excise on goods made or supplied in Zanzibar runs under Zanzibar's Excise Duty Act No. 8 of 2017, as our excise duty guide explains. Confirm. Do not skip an excise licence because the factory is in Zanzibar, or the reverse, without reading the live instrument.

Sequence

1. Name the premises: Mainland or Zanzibar.
2. Form the person at BRELA or BPRA.
3. Register the Union taxes that person actually meets.
4. Register the Zanzibar taxes if the premises are on the islands.
5. Diary two calendars if you have two persons, or even one person with two desks.

Where this file stalls

• One group accountant, one TRA calendar, a Zanzibar hotel
• ZIPA certificate offered to a bank as a tax clearance
• Mainland EFD / e-fiscal story pasted onto a Zanzibar till
• Inventing a Zanzibar VAT rate on this page: rates live on ZRA, not here
• Assuming EAC citizenship merges the tax desks

Worked path: Pwani factory plus Unguja lodge

The factory is a BRELA person, TRA file, Mainland work permits, TISEZA if facilitation is used, Mainland EIA. The lodge is a BPRA person, ZRA on Zanzibar taxes, ZIPA if ZIPA receives the project, Zanzibar land and tourism licences. Two sets of accounts. Two payrolls unless an advocate designed a secondment that still files twice where required. The cheap ‘one Tanzania company’ story is how one island is always late.

Shared brand, shared parent, separate tax geographies. Transfer-pricing between the two persons is a real file if they trade with each other. See the TP page.

Currency of this file

ZRA replaced ZRB under Zanzibar law in 2022; confirm the live Authority name on zanrevenue.go.tz. Finance Acts still rewrite rows. This page is orientation as at 10 September 2026.

Documents that must not share a binder labelled Tanzania

Mainland: TRA TIN, Mainland VAT where applicable, Mainland PAYE, Mainland EFD/e-fiscal story, TISEZA papers if any. Zanzibar: ZRA registrations, island VAT where applicable, Zanzibar payroll papers, ZIPA papers if any, BPRA extract. Sharing one PDF named ‘group tax’ is how a Dar TIN is offered to a Zanzibar bank.

Union income-tax papers can sit in both geographies. That is not a licence to skip ZRA. Map the desks on one page. Update it when you open a second premises.

What this page will never publish

A VAT rate for either geography. A due date. A statement that a named tax ‘moved to Union’ without a live statute. Confirm tra.go.tz and zanrevenue.go.tz.

Failure modes

One accountant, one TRA calendar, a Stone Town hotel. A ZIPA letter offered as a tax clearance. Mainland fiscal-device rules pasted onto a Zanzibar till. Assuming an EAC passport merges the desks.

As-at 10 September 2026: diary discipline

ZRA replaced ZRB. Use the live Authority name. If a staff member still says ZRB, correct the letterhead. Confirm zanrevenue.go.tz this quarter.

Mandate-holders this file does not replace

TRA for Union taxes. ZRA for Zanzibar non-union taxes. BPRA and BRELA for persons. ZIPA and TISEZA for facilitation. Labour and Immigration for people, split by island. This page only splits the tax geography. It does not licence the hotel.

Customs at Zanzibar ports is still Union orientation. Do not tell a clearing agent ‘Zanzibar means no TRA’. Confirm the live entry. The agent who believes a slogan will still lodge a Union declaration.

Withholding on a non-resident fee billed to a Zanzibar company is a Union income-tax conversation until the live Act says otherwise. See the WHT page. Do not skip it because ZRA felt like the only desk.

What to put in the board minutes

Write the premises, the registrar, the tax desks, and the permit desks. If the minutes say ‘Tanzania’ as one counter, the rest of the file will lie in the same way. Groups with both a Pwani plant and an Unguja lodge should budget two calendars in the same paragraph.

When you open a second premises, minute the new desk. Do not wait for a penalty letter to discover ZRA.

What a declined dual-geography pack usually looked like

A Dar TIN, a Stone Town lease, and a single VAT working paper. ZRA will not treat the Dar TIN as theirs. TRA will not treat a Zanzibar till as a Mainland EFD story. Split the binders. Diary both calendars. If the group has both a Pwani factory and an Unguja lodge, budget two persons unless an advocate designed a structure that still files twice where the law requires it. Confirm zanrevenue.go.tz and tra.go.tz the quarter you open.

Operator calendar for two geographies

Week you choose premises: pick the island, then the registrar. Same week: map TRA versus ZRA. Month of first hire: map Labour and Immigration on that island. Quarter of first sale: fiscal-device rules of that desk, not the other. Annual: two closing packs if you have two persons. Confirm zanrevenue.go.tz and tra.go.tz each quarter you remain open on both sides of the Union.

Cross-links without contradicting keepers

The two-registrars page chooses BRELA or BPRA. The ZIPA page is island facilitation. The WHT page remains a Union income-tax conversation until the live Act says otherwise. This page only splits the tax geography. It does not reprint a VAT rate. Confirm tra.go.tz and zanrevenue.go.tz. GN 487A hedging on Mainland files is unchanged. Island reserved-activity law is confirmed separately. Do not treat Unguja as a loophole.

What this desk will not freeze on 10 September 2026

Which tax is Union is confirmed on the live statutes, not on a 2018 textbook. ZRA is the live island name. Rates live on the desks. If a later Finance Act moves a tax across the line, the Act wins and this page yields. Confirm both portals the quarter you file.