The network covers Botswana within the Southern Africa region. Payslips there are drawn up in BWP, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in English and Tswana.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Gaborone, Francistown, Molepolole, Maun.
The country lies outside the European Union and outside the European Economic Area: the A1 certificate has no standing there. Whether the employee remains in the scheme of origin then depends on the bilateral social security agreement, if any, concluded with the sending country; where no such agreement exists, dual affiliation must be expected and budgeted into the assignment.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Botswana, running payroll on behalf of third parties is reserved by law to no registered profession: any company may take it on. The absence of a legal barrier shifts the checking onto you, and that is why the network itself verifies the registration, the tax and social security standing and the insurance cover of every firm before listing it.
L'établissement de la paie n'est pas une activité réservée au Botswana. En revanche l'audit légal et l'exercice sous le titre de chartered accountant supposent l'enregistrement auprès de la BICA, qui exerce un rôle de régulateur du secteur comptable et non de simple association.
Botswana disconcerts European employers by an absence: the country has no national social security fund with compulsory contributions. There is accordingly no social certificate to produce and no enrolment to arrange with a public pension body. Retirement cover runs through private pension funds supervised by the non-bank financial regulator, and is a matter of company policy rather than law.
What remains on the payslip is essentially fiscal: tax withheld at source on wages and remitted to the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS), together with a levy earmarked for vocational training.
English is the official and administrative language, with Setswana the national language in everyday use. Wages are paid in pula. Finally, while payroll is not a reserved activity, the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) is a statutory regulator rather than a mere association: accounting firms must be registered with it.
Enrolling an employee in a pension scheme is not a legal obligation but an employer's choice. If you set up a pension fund, its rules and its authorisation must be examined, since there is no public safety net to fall back on.
The right to work, by contrast, drives the timetable. Botswana operates an employment policy favouring national labour, and hiring a foreign employee requires a work permit together with a residence permit; that procedure weighs on a project far more than incorporation itself.
The entity is obtained from the companies and intellectual property authority. Check that the now-required filings have been made, in particular the beneficial ownership declaration, whose absence blocks later steps.
Tax registration and the identification number that comes with it are indispensable to any filing.
A written contract is strongly advisable and its content is framed by employment legislation dealing with working time, leave and dismissal.
Tax withheld, the training levy and, where applicable, contributions to the company pension fund appear on the payslip.
Notice, terminal benefits and the handing over of documents are dealt with together on exit rather than one after another; for a foreign employee, cancellation of the permit is added to the list.
The network asks 9 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Botswana. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 9 documents, 5 are required of every applicant and 5 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 12 months. 1 of these documents exist only in Botswana and have no equivalent in the common core of the network.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Incorporation / Certificate of Registration, avec le Company Extract et le dernier Annual ReturnCertificate of Incorporation, company extract and latest Annual Return Depuis les réformes récentes, toute société botswanaise doit également avoir déposé une constitution et une déclaration de bénéficiaires effectifs (beneficial ownership) auprès de la CIPA : réclamer la preuve de ces dépôts. | Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA) | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) et VAT Registration CertificateTaxpayer Identification Number and VAT registration certificate Le TIN est obligatoire pour toute société ; l'inscription à la TVA ne l'est qu'au-delà du seuil de chiffre d'affaires, un petit cabinet peut légitimement ne pas avoir de certificat de TVA. | Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC)Tax Clearance Certificate Délivrée par le BURS via son portail e-Tax ; elle est exigée pour les marchés publics, le renouvellement des licences et le rapatriement de fonds, donc un cabinet sérieux en dispose. | Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Aucun régime national de cotisations sociales — attestation de régularité BURS (PAYE et Training Levy) à la placeSocial security contributions clearance Le Botswana n'a pas de caisse nationale de sécurité sociale à cotisations obligatoires : la retraite passe par des fonds de pension privés supervisés par la NBFIRA. Il n'existe donc pas d'attestation sociale équivalente ; le Tax Clearance Certificate du BURS, qui couvre le PAYE retenu sur les salaires, en tient lieu. | Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) pour le PAYE et le Vocational Training Levy ; Workers' Compensation via le ministère du Travail | 12 months Where applicable | Official website |
| Professional Indemnity Insurance certificateProfessional indemnity insurance certificate Exigée par la BICA des cabinets en pratique publique dans le cadre de son contrôle qualité, mais pas imposée par une loi générale ; pièce à réclamer contractuellement. | Assureur agréé par la Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) | 12 months Where applicable | Official website |
| BICA Certificate of Registration as an accounting / audit firm et Practising Certificate du responsableBICA firm registration and practising certificate La BICA est à la fois ordre professionnel et régulateur : les cabinets fournissant des services comptables ou d'audit doivent y être enregistrés et leurs associés titulaires d'un practising certificate. | Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA), régulateur créé par l'Accountants Act | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Omang (carte nationale d'identité) ou passeport du director, avec la déclaration de beneficial ownership déposée à la CIPADirector's Omang ID or passport and beneficial ownership declaration La déclaration de bénéficiaires effectifs est désormais obligatoire pour toutes les sociétés botswanaises et constitue une excellente pièce de vérification KYC. | Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs (Omang) ; CIPA pour la déclaration | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Enregistrement du data controller auprès de l'Information and Data Protection CommissionData controller registration | Information and Data Protection Commission, au titre du Data Protection Act (2018, entré en vigueur en 2021) | No expiry Where applicable | Official website |
| Trade Licence (Trade Act)Trade licence La plupart des activités commerciales au Botswana requièrent une trade licence délivrée par le conseil local ; les professions réglementées comme les experts-comptables en sont en principe dispensées au profit de l'enregistrement BICA. Demander au candidat laquelle des deux voies le concerne. | Autorité municipale compétente (city / district council), sous le régime du Trade Act | 12 months Where applicable | Official website |
The absence of a national social scheme remains the most unsettling point. Do not look for a contributions certificate: the BURS tax clearance certificate, which covers withholding on wages, takes its place. A local provider promising a social certificate does not know its own country.
BICA occupies an unusual position in the professional landscape. It issues practising certificates, registers firms and runs quality control: it is a regulator, which makes its register directly usable as a selection criterion.
Recent transparency obligations, finally, have become useful beyond their own purpose. The beneficial ownership declaration filed with the companies authority is now a routine document, and it is the best available tool for verifying who really owns a candidate firm, in a country where ownership structures crossing into South Africa are common.
L'absence de caisse nationale de sécurité sociale est la particularité la plus déroutante pour un cabinet français : il ne faut pas réclamer d'attestation sociale, seul le Tax Clearance Certificate du BURS couvrant le PAYE a du sens. Deux dépôts récents à la CIPA sont devenus obligatoires et discriminants : la constitution de la société et la déclaration de bénéficiaires effectifs. Enfin, ne pas se satisfaire du seul Certificate of Incorporation, qui ne périme jamais : c'est le dernier Annual Return déposé qui prouve que la société n'a pas été radiée.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Botswana, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Botswana has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
In Botswana we expect a firm registered with BICA whose responsible partner holds a current practising certificate; the title to look for is chartered accountant. We ask for the certificate of incorporation, a recent companies register extract with the latest annual return filed, the BURS tax clearance certificate, the beneficial ownership declaration and professional indemnity cover. There is, by contrast, no social certificate to obtain, and we do not ask for one.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Botswana yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in BotswanaMobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Botswana.