BY THEMBA ZWANE
MBABANE– Business Eswatini (BE) has positioned the private sector at the centre of Eswatini’s emerging digital tax revolution, with a significant number of retail and wholesale companies volunteering to participate in the pilot phase of the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) Fiscalisation Project.
The project, commonly known as e-invoicing, is expected to transform the way businesses issue, transmit and validate invoices by moving the country away from manual and paper-based processes towards a standardised digital system.
The development followed a high-level engagement convened by Business Eswatini on September 3, 2026, bringing together its retail and wholesale members and the ERS to discuss the implementation of the fiscalisation system.
Rather than simply receiving information from the revenue authority, businesses used the engagement to raise practical concerns around how the new system will affect their daily operations.
Among the issues raised were the integration of e-invoicing with existing Point-of-Sale and accounting systems, the cost of implementation and the transitional arrangements businesses will face as the country moves towards the new system.
The concerns reflect the differing technological capabilities and operating environments of businesses across Eswatini, with BE stressing that the success of the project will depend on an implementation process that is practical, proportionate and responsive to the realities facing businesses.
The ERS presented the fiscalisation project as part of a broader move towards a digital tax ecosystem in which transactions can be generated, transmitted and validated in real-time or near real-time.
The expected benefits include improved accuracy, faster processing, fewer invoicing errors and reduced administrative burdens, while creating a smoother environment for voluntary tax compliance.
For Business Eswatini, however, the transition must be built on meaningful consultation between the revenue authority and the private sector.
The organisation said the willingness of a significant number of companies to volunteer for the pilot phase demonstrated the private sector’s readiness to embrace innovation when businesses are adequately consulted and given an opportunity to influence implementation.
Business Eswatini CEO E. Nathi Dlamini stressed the importance of continued engagement as the project progresses from design and piloting towards national rollout.
“Continued, deep engagement is not a luxury; it is a necessity,” Dlamini said.
He added that early and robust consultation would allow implementation challenges to be identified before they became costly obstacles for businesses or the revenue administration.
The engagement also reinforced BE’s role as a bridge between the private sector and regulatory authorities, particularly on reforms that have a direct impact on the business operating environment.
With businesses now stepping forward to test the system, the pilot phase is set to provide an important opportunity to identify practical challenges, refine the implementation model and ensure that the eventual national rollout is workable for businesses of different sizes and technological capacities.
The Fiscalisation Project therefore represents more than a technological upgrade to the tax system. Its success will depend on whether government and business can work together to build a digital compliance framework that improves revenue administration without creating unnecessary burdens for the private sector.
As Eswatini advances towards greater digitalisation of its tax system, the decision by businesses to participate in the pilot signals growing private-sector confidence in shaping the country’s next generation of tax compliance.
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(Courtesy Pic)
