After landlords played hide and seek, the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has notified that in the month of February 2026, it will embark on a nationwide exercise to identify landlords to register their properties and be taxed.
According to MRA, rental income from residential or commercial property is taxable by law.
In a public notice, the authority has noted that some property owners are not yet registered for tax purposes, and failure to register voluntarily calls for statutory penalties under revenue laws.
According to MRA property owners are required to register with MRA through the Msonkho online portal, obtain a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and declare rental income in their annual tax return.
During the mid-year budget review, Minister of Finance Joseph Mwanamveka said the government observed that many property owners especially in the cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu, and Zomba collects significant rental income without paying withholding tax on rentals.
“Government has directed the Malawi Revenue Authority MRA to immediately enforce the collection of rental income tax on residential property, including a comprehensive registration exercise of landlords” Mwanamveka said.
The minister further requested ESCOM, all Water boards, the Malawi Housing Corporation, the city councils, and ministry of Lands to cooperate with the revenue collection board MRA in providing the necessary information about the owners of residential properties in low-density areas.
During the mid-year budget, Mwanamveka said the revised budget for the 2025/2026 has been pegged at 8.589 trillion kwacha of which the second half of the financial year, the government projects a total revenue of 3.078 trillion from which 2.323 trillion will be from tax revenues.
He said the tax revenues collected in the first half of the 2025/2026 budget year were 2.383 trillion kwacha and the higher projection in the second half is a result of the expected implementation of revenue measures.
