Tax in Africa

In Africa, Stripe supports tax calculation for businesses making sales into a range of countries. The requirements for tax registration, as well as which types of transactions are included, vary from country to country.

When and how to register for tax collection

In Africa, your business must be a remote seller with no physical presence (such as a shop or warehouse) to collect tax on Stripe.

See Thresholds to get insights about your potential tax registration obligations in each location. Stripe only monitors if you have reached a tax threshold for sales outside of the country your business is based in. Stripe also notifies you with email and Dashboard alerts when you need to register to collect tax. Learn more about how the monitoring tool works.

Stripe only monitors whether you reach a tax threshold for sales outside your business country of origin and notifies you with email and Dashboard alerts when you need to register to collect tax in one of these jurisdictions.

Always visit a country’s government website to verify when you’re required to register in a jurisdiction, and to obtain information, instructions, and required forms.

After registering, add your registration in the Registrations tab of the Dashboard to start collecting tax on your transactions in that location.

How we calculate taxes

Stripe can calculate tax for any of the product tax codes you assign to your products in South Africa.

For all the other countries in Africa, Stripe only supports calculation for digital products sold by remote sellers.

Domestic transactions

A transaction where your business and your customer are in the same country is called a domestic transaction. Stripe doesn’t support calculation on domestic transactions in this region.

Cross border transactions

A cross-border transaction is where your customer is located in a different country to your business or when goods are shipped from one country to another.

Stripe calculates tax on a cross-border transaction taking into account the following factors:

• The location of your business
• The tax registrations you’ve added to Stripe
• The location of the buyer
• The type of the product sold (based on which product tax code you assigned to your product)
• The status of the customer (whether they’re an individual or a business)

Digital products

Digital products are non-physical items or services that are delivered, given, or rendered electronically. This includes digital goods and electronically supplied services. We determine whether you’re selling digital products or physical goods using the product tax code you assigned to your product.

Digital products are generally taxable in the country where your customer is located. However sales of digital products to businesses in other countries might have reverse charge applied. With reverse charge, your business provides an invoice for the purchase so that your customer can calculate the tax.

Physical goods

When physical goods are shipped to a customer in a different country to your business, the transaction is referred to as an export. Stripe doesn’t yet support calculation on exports of physical goods in this region.

Report and file your taxes

Stripe provides reports of your completed tax transactions. Go to Registrations to access these reports. Learn more about the different types of reports.

You’re responsible for filing and remitting your taxes. Stripe doesn’t file taxes on your behalf.