Known as the “Kingdom in the Sky,” Lesotho offers expats a unique lifestyle surrounded by breathtaking mountain landscapes, rich cultural heritage, and a peaceful, close-knit community.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about relocating to Lesotho from a personal tax perspective, including tax residency, income tax, special tax regimes and tax return obligations.
TaxPilot recommend that you organize your affairs in good time to get ahead and make the most of favorable tax treatment while making sure you’re meeting your tax return obligations.
Lesotho follows a residence taxation model. If you are resident, you will pay tax worldwide incomes. If you are non-resident, you will pay tax on local incomes only.
if you spend more than 182 days in Lesotho during any 12 month period.
if your main residence is in Lesotho during the tax year.
Providing that you are an expat, foreign incomes and gains will be exempt from taxation in Lesotho. Lesotho can be a very tax efficient place to live for expats and nomads and as such, Global Tax Consulting recommends seeking personalized tax planning advice to take advantage of the special tax regime.
Exempt from Lesotho taxation.
Applied indefinitely.
Tax on property and share sales
Tax on value of owned assets
Tax on assets passed to heirs
Tax to contribute to state welfare
If you receive incomes overseas while you are living in Lesotho, you may find the source country, as a starting point, continues to tax the income which may cause double taxation unless you are using special tax regime.
Double taxation agreements can be used to mitigate double taxation and receive tax free income. As such, the more double taxation agreements a country has, the better, as agreements will ensure you’re not taxed twice and even better, ensure your income is tax free.
At present, Lesotho has five double taxation agreements signed.
