The Mozambican Tax Authority (AT) estimates that changes introduced under the fiscal reform could generate an increase of 15 billion meticais in 2026, equivalent to approximately €200 million in tax revenue, resulting from the expanded taxation of new sectors of the economy, including mobile and digital transactions.
This revenue increase stems from a set of measures approved by Parliament, covering not only the Personal Income Tax Code (IRPS) but also the customs tariff, the Value Added Tax Code (VAT), and the Corporate Income Tax Code (IRPC), according to data provided by the AT.
Under these changes, the Mozambican government now considers as income obtained in the country—and therefore subject to taxation—the provision of digital services to local entities, including digital content, data, cryptocurrencies, social media profiles, and streaming platforms.
The measure results from a law amending the IRPS Code, proposed by the Executive and integrated into the fiscal reform package approved in December. Despite parliamentary approval, the government still has 180 days to regulate and operationalize the planned changes.
With the new legal wording, the article on income now includes amounts “derived from the transfer of goods or the provision of digital services, performed or used in Mozambican territory, when payable by entities located or resident in Mozambique,” reinforcing the tax framework for these activities.
The legislation also explicitly defines “digital goods” as “intangible assets represented, stored, or transmitted in electronic format, with economic value and capable of appropriation, ownership, control, transfer, or licensing by digital means.”
According to the law, this category includes, among others, software, digital content, digital data with economic purposes, cryptocurrencies, e-books, social media profiles, and other virtual assets, as well as accounts, access, and digital identifiers functionally equivalent.
The fiscal reform further defines “digital services” as intangible services provided electronically and “delivered through software, platforms, networks, algorithms, or digital infrastructures,” regardless of the location of the parties involved in the transaction.
These services cover automated or minimally human-intervened services, including access to platforms, applications offered as a service (SaaS), cloud computing services, media and television streaming services, digital financial services, and digital intermediation activities.
Source: Lusa
