Tunisia withholding tax 2026: 1% or 1.5% on purchases?

Every month, when entering a certificate on the TEJ platform, a Tunisian accountant picks an operation code. For a purchase of goods or services of 1,000 dinars or more, three codes are on offer. The middle one, RS7_000002, reads: "legal entities subject to corporate tax at 15%".

There is no general 15% rate any more. The 2025 finance law raised it to 20%. So the supplier is "at 20%", which is not "15%", and the temptation is to switch to the neighbouring code — "rates other than 15% and 10%" — and withhold 1.5% instead of 1%.

That is a mistake, and the tax administration has said so in writing. But neither the consolidated text of Article 52, nor the TEJ code list, nor most of the rate tables published online say it. This article puts the three rates back where they belong, with the source.

What changed in 2025, and what did not

Article 37 of Law No. 2024-48 of 9 December 2024 (the 2025 finance law) revised the corporate income tax (IS) rates:

• the general rate rose from 15% to 20%, for every company not subject to a special rate, whatever its turnover;
• the 35% rate rose to 40% for two groups only: banks and financial institutions (excluding payment institutions), and insurers and reinsurers;
• the 35% rate stayed for everyone else: payment institutions, investment companies, debt-collection companies, telecom operators, the hydrocarbons sector, petroleum refining and wholesale, large retail outlets, car dealers, and franchisees of foreign brands (unless their local integration rate is at least 30%);
• the reduced 10% rate is unchanged.

These rates apply to profits earned from 1 January 2024.

On withholding tax, the law raised only two rates, both on disposals of property and securities by non-resident, non-established entities. The rates on domestic purchases were not touched — but their wording still points at a corporate tax rate whose value has changed.

The table, as the administration writes it

Note commune No. 8 of 2025, the administration's commentary on Article 37, deals with exactly this point (pages 10 and 11). It states that the scope of withholding on payments of 1,000 dinars or more including VAT, for purchases of goods, materials, equipment and services, is kept as it was before 1 January 2025, and gives the mapping:

Withholding is computed on the amount paid, VAT included.

Once laid out, the rule is simple: the 1% rate tracks the general corporate tax rate, whatever its value. It was 15% yesterday; it is 20% today.

The 20% that produces two rates

Here is the subtlety almost no table flags: two suppliers both taxed at 20% do not call for the same withholding.

• An ordinary SARL taxed at the general 20% rate: 1%.
• A listed bank or insurer still paying 20% under the temporary listing reduction, for what remains of its five years: 1.5%.

So the figure 20% is not enough. What matters is why the supplier is at 20%: because it is the general rate, or because it enjoys a reduction from 40%. The note also states that listings made from 1 January 2025 no longer qualify for this reduction, so this category will disappear on its own.

What the TEJ codes say, and how to read them

The operation code list published with the CCT-RS-V2 specification keeps the old wording. Here is how each code reads in 2026:

The code and the rate have to tell the same story. A certificate carrying RS7_000001 with 1%, or RS7_000002 with 1.5%, is inconsistent: it will pass a format check, but not a review during an audit.

What the mistake costs, in both directions

Take an invoice of 10,000 dinars before tax, VAT at 19%, so 11,900 TND including VAT, paid to a company on the general rate.

The gap is 59.500 TND per invoice. Across forty invoices of that size a month, that is 2,380 TND of cash taken each month from suppliers who did not owe it upfront — and who only recover it by offsetting the excess against their own tax, months later. It is the classic source of a phone call from the supplier, then a debit note, then a corrected certificate.

The opposite mistake is worse. Withholding 1% on a payment that required 1.5% — a telecom operator's, car dealer's or insurer's invoice, for instance — leaves a shortfall. Withholding is an obligation of the payer, so the payer is the one asked for the difference during an audit.

How to tell which rate your supplier is taxed at

Nothing on an invoice shows the supplier's corporate tax rate. A few checks settle most cases:

1. Individual or legal entity? The category is part of the tax identification number, and TEJ asks for it for every beneficiary anyway. An individual falls under 1.5%, unless they benefit from the two-thirds deduction (0.5%).
2. A 35% or 40% sector? Bank, financial or payment institution, insurer, telecom operator, hydrocarbons and petroleum products, large retail outlet, car dealer, foreign-brand franchise: 1.5%.
3. A partnership (SNC, simple limited partnership): 1.5%.
4. Everything else, meaning the ordinary SARL or SA: general rate, 1%.
5. The 10% rate cannot be guessed. If a supplier claims it, ask for written confirmation.

Good practice fits in one line: ask each supplier for its corporate tax rate once, in writing, and store it on its supplier record. The TEJ code and the withholding rate then follow mechanically, instead of being chosen from memory at every filing.

What our validator checks, and what it does not

Our TEJ withholding XML validator checks the file you upload to TEJ: amounts in millimes, tax IDs, duplicate references, and the exact equality net paid = amount including VAT − withholding. It names the certificate and the field at fault.

It does not choose the rate for you, on purpose. There is no official consolidated rate schedule; the rates live in Article 52 as amended by each finance law, and in the notes communes that interpret them — the 2025 note is the proof. What the tool does do is remember, in your browser, the rate you entered for each code: you check it once, and it offers it back afterwards.

To go further:

• The TEJ XML file guide: deadlines, structure and the four reasons a filing is rejected;
• Generating the XML file from your ledger: the technical tutorial, with the checks to place upstream;
• E-invoicing in Tunisia: the law and the penalties, the other monthly obligation that runs through your supplier data.

Key takeaways

• The 1% rate follows the general corporate tax rate, which has been 20% since the 2025 finance law. The "15%" wording in Article 52 and in code RS7_000002 means that general rate.
• The 1.5% rate covers companies at 35% and 40%, listed companies on the reduced 20%, individuals and partnerships.
• The 0.5% rate stays tied to the 10% rate and the two-thirds deduction.
• Each supplier's corporate tax rate is a field on its record, not a choice to make every month.

Are your certificates consistent? If your TEJ codes are picked by hand, or your software applies one rate to every supplier, we can compare your latest filings with your supplier master data and show you where code and rate disagree. Talk to us.

Sources: Law No. 2024-48 of 9 December 2024 (2025 finance law), Article 37; Note commune No. 8 of 2025, Directorate General for Tax Studies and Legislation; Article 52 of the Personal and Corporate Income Tax Code; TEJ operation code list (CCT-RS-V2).