Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has highlighted registration of about 3 000 rented properties in Blantyre and Lilongwe as part of a wider crackdown on tax non-compliance to widen the tax base.
In the face of mounting fiscal pressure, rising public debt and declining donor support, Malawi is left with no option but to improve efficiency in domestic tax revenue mobilisation.
Briefing Parliament’s Government Assurances and Public Sector Reforms Committee in Lilongwe yesterday, MRA commissioner general Felix Tambulasi said the ongoing property registration exercise is aimed at identifying landlords operating outside the formal tax system and ensuring rental income tax compliance.
He said the exercise has so far covered affluent residential areas in Lilongwe, including Area 43, Area 12, Area 10, Old Area 43, Area 15 and Area 14. On the other hand, in Blantyre the exercise has captured data from Namiwawa, Nyambadwe, Sunnyside, CI, Kampala, Mount Pleasant and New Naperi.
Tambulasi said MRA is now extending the operation to Lilongwe’s Areas 47, 11 and 6 as well as Masala, Mudi, Chichiri and Mpingwe areas in Blantyre.
“That data, we believe, will help us now to reach out to people that are supposed to pay taxes on rental income,” he told the committee.
While stressing that enforcement would eventually tighten, Tambulasi said MRA is prioritising public awareness and voluntary compliance.
He said: “MRA is providing training and technical support to businesses struggling with the new system, and the major concerns around uploading large inventories into the platform have so far remained limited. We are not being heavy-handed with penalties.”
MRA also used the session to explain the rollout of the Electronic Invoicing System (EIS), a digital value-added tax (VAT) monitoring platform introduced on May 1 to replace the Electronic Fiscal Device Management System (EFDMS) launched in 2014.
Tambulasi said the system is designed to improve VAT accountability and reduce tax leakages by digitally tracking transactions and invoices in real time.
He said about 7 950 taxpayers out of a targeted 9 000 have already migrated to the EIS platform, with full compliance expected within the next month despite resistance from some businesses.
Implementation of the EIS was previously postponed twice—from November 2025 to February 2026 and later to May 2026 following protests from some members of the business community.
But Tambulasi described the resistance as part of the adjustment challenges associated with major reforms.
“We need to realise that the primary function of this system is to account for VAT. These are the 17.5 percent the sellers are collecting from the buyers on behalf of the government,” he said, adding that MRA would not hesitate to seek court intervention against deliberate attempts to obstruct the reforms.
Committee vice-chairperson Juliana Kaduya backed the reforms, saying lawmakers, councillors and traditional leaders would help sensitise the public on tax compliance.
“These monies are our monies. If they continue doing that, Malawi will change,” she said.
Economic analysts have observed that the reforms reflect growing pressure on government to improve domestic resource mobilisation as external financing becomes increasingly uncertain.
Consumers Association of Malawi executive director John Kapito also urged businesses to comply with the reforms, while noting that resistance to new systems is common during periods of transition.
