Tanzania PAYE Tax Brackets & Bands
The current monthly Pay As You Earn (PAYE) income tax bands for resident employees in Tanzania. Tax is progressive — each band's rate applies only to income within that band.
| Monthly income (TZS) | Rate | Total PAYE at the top of the band |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 270,000 | 0% | 0 |
| 270,001 – 520,000 | 8% | 20,000 |
| 520,001 – 760,000 | 20% | 68,000 |
| 760,001 – 1,000,000 | 25% | 128,000 |
| Above 1,000,001 | 30% | — |
The final column is the total monthly PAYE someone earning exactly the top of that band pays, calculated with the same engine as the calculator. Rates are indicative and may change with the annual budget. Verify with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).
Example: On a 1,000,000 TZS gross monthly salary, the 10% NSSF contribution of 100,000 TZS comes off first, leaving 900,000 TZS to be taxed. PAYE on that is 103,000 TZS (0% on the first 270,000, 8% on 250,000, 20% on 240,000, 25% on 140,000). After tax and pension, take-home is 797,000 TZS before any other deductions.
With no pension scheme deducted, the whole 1,000,000 TZS is taxable, so PAYE would be 128,000 TZS, leaving 872,000 TZS before any other deduction. The band arithmetic is the same either way — what changes is the amount the bands are applied to.
Calculate your take-home pay →What the bands are applied to
The bands apply to taxable pay, not to gross salary. A pension contribution is deducted first — 10% for a private-sector employee in NSSF, 5% for a public-sector employee in PSSSF — and PAYE is charged on what is left. That is why two people on an identical gross salary can pay different amounts of tax: the two worked examples above use the same gross salary and reach different PAYE figures purely because one of them has a pension deducted, so quoting a PAYE number without saying which case it is can be misleading by tens of thousands of shillings.
Deductions such as the HESLB student-loan repayment are withheld at the same time but do not reduce the tax. They come out after PAYE, so they change what reaches your account rather than the amount the bands are applied to.
When the bands change
Tanzanian income tax is set in the annual budget, which is presented in June, and rate changes normally take effect from 1 July. The bands on this page and in every calculator on the site are read from one shared definition, so when they are revised the table, the worked examples and the calculator all move together instead of one of them quietly going stale. The Tanzania Revenue Authority publishes the operative rates.
If you are working from a payslip rather than a salary figure, the salary calculator applies these bands to your own numbers together with the pension deduction, and the PAYE guide walks through the same arithmetic in more detail.
Frequently asked questions
What is PAYE?
Pay As You Earn is the income tax deducted from employment income each month before you're paid.
What is the tax-free threshold in Tanzania?
The first 270,000 TZS of monthly income is taxed at 0%.
Are these bands monthly or annual?
These are the monthly PAYE bands for resident employees. For annual (non-employment) income, the equivalent annual thresholds apply.
What is the highest PAYE rate?
The top band charges 30%, and it applies only to the income above the lower bands — not to the whole salary.
Is PAYE the only deduction from a Tanzanian salary?
No. A pension contribution is deducted before PAYE is worked out — NSSF for private-sector employees, PSSSF for public-sector ones — and an HESLB student-loan repayment may be withheld at the same time. The salary calculator shows all of them together.
Do these rates change?
Yes — the bands can change in each year's national budget. Always verify with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).
Maintained by David M at Delta Tech Solutions · Figures last checked 12 October 2026 · Next check due 12 April 2027