Digital tax stamp

The taxpayer of excise duty whose products are locally manufactured or imported to be sold on the Rwandan market affixes on them a tax stamp.

Any manufacturer and any importer of products taxable with excise duty are required to account for the usage of tax stamps issued to them in a reconciliation statement. The monthly reconciliation statement summarises the usage of tax stamps according to this format.

A manufacturer or importer of a taxable product submits to the Tax Administration a reconciliation
statement on the usage of tax stamps within ten days following the month in which the tax stamps were used.

If you are a manufacturer of excisable products, you are required to keep the following registers:

• Register of inventory of manufactured products (see format)
• A sales register
• A register of raw materials
• A register of ongoing operations

The registers above-mentioned registers may be in either electronic or paper form.

If operations are not carried out or are interrupted, the manufacturer of a taxable product notifies the Tax
Administration within ten days of the date of interruption of operations.

Requirements to get tax stamps varies depending on the category of the applicant.

1.Requirements for local manufacturers of excisable products:

• The factory must be ready for production;
• Products subject to tax stamps must be approved by Rwanda Foods and Drugs Authority;
• To provide the barcode for products subject to tax stamps;
• To provide the price structure to the tax administration;
• To avail internet connection in the factory;
• To own tax stamps applicator;
• To register for excise duty and other taxes, especially Value Added Tax (VAT), Income tax and tax on employment income (PAYE);
• To register for EBM.
• To register both company and products in Digital stamps management system through excisestamps.rra.gov.rw/login

2. Requirements for overseas manufacturer of products subject to tax stamps:

• Factory must be ready to start production;
• To present a trading license;
• To present an import license;
• To provide the price structure to the tax administration;
• To avail internet connection in the factory;
• To provide the barcode for products subject to tax stamps;
• To own tax stamps applicator;
• To register for taxes on which s/he qualified for;
• To register for EBM;
• To register both company and products in Digital stamps management system through excisestamps.rra.gov.rw/login

3.Requirements for importer of products subject to tax stamps

• To present an import license
• Pay all customs duties and fees
• Register both company& products in digital stamps management system through excisestamps.rra.gov.rw/login

The tax stamp Mobile Verification Application can be downloaded from Google Play Store.
The objective of this Mobile application is to verify if the products (Alcohol / Tobacco) is genuine or not. You can fetch the Tax Stamp details by scanning / Typing the QR code found in the Tax Stamps. Each QR code will have its own specified data embedded to it.


When the Tax Stamp is Scanned the application will connect with the RRA Central Server and it will fetch the corresponding data of that Tax Stamp. You can cross check whether the product is genuine or not with the details fetched while scanning the QR Code.



If the tax stamp is genuine, you will see the following information related to that tax stamps: Importer name, Product type ,Product name, Product sub category, Product description, Volume, Product brand, Stamps color, Activation date, Address, Importer location, Activation status.


If the Tax Stamp is not Genuine you will get this message “Invalid Stamp” and you can report the issue to tax administration by following these steps: 
Click option, select Report and submit your complain.


If there are network issues you will get a message that server is down and you can try again later.

A domestic manufacturer or importer of products subject to the excise duty who performs one of the following acts: 

• Failing to keep tax stamp registers, records or any other related documents
• Failing to submit tax stamp reconciliation statement within the prescribed period;

Is liable to an administrative fine of not less than 1,000,000 Rwandan francs and not more than 2,000,000 Rwandan francs.

Any domestic manufacturer or importer of products subject to the excise duty, who commits one of the following acts, commits an offence:

• Failing to affix tax stamps to products;
• Failing to submit to the Tax Administration a reconciliation statement on the usage of tax stamps within the prescribed time limit;
• Affixing tax stamps to products in a manner contrary to the law
• Submitting an incorrect or incomplete tax stamp reconciliation statement;
• Using tax stamps on products for which they are not intended;
• Selling products subject to the excise duty without tax stamps.

 
Upon conviction, he or she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than 6 months and not more than 1 year or to a fine of not less than 1,000,000 Rwandan francs and not more than 2,000,000 Rwandan francs.

When the perpetrator of the obove-mentioned offences is a person other than an individual, such a person is liable to a fine of not less than FRW 5,000,000 but not more than FRW 10,000,000.

In case of recidivism within a period not exceeding two years, the fine is doubled.