Tunisia's 2027 finance bill: what businesses need to know

Tunisia’s draft finance bill for 2027 (PLF 2027) was sent to Parliament on 15 October 2026. I have read the text and the main published analyses to pull out what matters from a company’s point of view: what changes, what helps, what creates new obligations, and what to prepare before 1 January.

Keep in mind. This is a draft: the text can still change during the parliamentary review. The law must be passed by 10 December 2026, and its provisions would apply from 1 January 2027 unless stated otherwise (article 70). We will update this article once it is adopted.

Key figures of the 2027 budget

Indicator	Draft 2027 budget
State expenditure (payment appropriations)	TND 68.895 billion (+8.37% vs the 2026 Finance Act)
State revenue	TND 54.280 billion
of which tax revenue	TND 49.6 billion
of which non-tax revenue	TND 4.33 billion
of which grants	TND 0.35 billion
Budget deficit	TND 14.615 billion
Treasury resources to raise	TND 28.122 billion (19.845 domestic borrowing, 6.877 external borrowing, 1.4 treasury resources)
Debt principal repayments	TND 13.307 billion (6.823 domestic, 6.484 external)
Central Bank facilities (article 12)	up to TND 9.8 billion, interest-free, over 15 years including a 3-year grace period
Ceiling on State guarantees (loans and sukuk, article 11)	TND 9 billion

According to published estimates, the deficit would represent between 6.7% and 7.8% of GDP, with growth forecast at 3.1%.

Measures that directly affect businesses

Company creation and employment

• Exemption for new companies (article 22). The regime of article 33 of the 2024 Finance Act (tax exemption over the first years of activity) is extended to companies created with a certificate of investment declaration filed between 1 January 2027 and 31 December 2030. Excluded: the financial sector, energy (except renewables), mining, real estate development, on-site consumption, trade, and telecom network operators.
• Social contributions of founders and small businesses created in 2027 (article 14). The State covers the social contribution up to the minimum wage: 100% in year one, 75% in year two, 50% in year three. The envelope is capped at TND 5 million, and conditions will be set by an agreement between ministries.
• Self-employed (auto-entrepreneurs, article 23). Amounts they collect for the activity declared in the national self-employed register would be exempt from withholding tax, for payments made from 1 January 2027.

Financing

• TND 10 million of interest-free participating loans for labelled start-ups, managed by BFPME (article 13).
• TND 10 million of working-capital loans for small businesses under three years old supported by ANETI (article 14).
• TND 20 million of interest-free loans, capped at TND 10,000 each and repayable over six years at most, for vulnerable groups (article 17).
• For community companies: an extra TND 35 million (article 20) and a TND 5 million line for their founders’ own contribution (article 21).
• Exports to Africa (article 42): the State would cover 50% of export credit insurance premiums, for 12 months, renewable once.

VAT and customs

• Locally made equipment (article 39). The VAT benefits (suspension or reduced rate) already granted to imported equipment with no local equivalent would also apply to similar equipment made in Tunisia. This corrects a disadvantage for local products; it is not a new import benefit. The manufacturer needs approval from the Ministry of Industry, under the conditions of Government Decree No. 2017-419 of 10 April 2017, which sets the lists of eligible equipment.
• Raw materials with no local equivalent (article 40): customs duty exemption for a specific list of tariff lines, reserved for manufacturers in leather and footwear, perfumes and cosmetics, and wood and furniture, based on an annual production plan approved by the Ministry of Industry.
• State suppliers (article 47): VAT suspension on imports and local purchases that form part of contracts funded by a grant or an earmarked external loan.
• Leasing and ijara (article 58): rents for equipment, machinery and real estate would follow the same VAT treatment as a direct purchase.
• Energy: storage batteries (heading 8507) exempt from customs duty, VAT and the FODEC levy, after a technical opinion from the Ministry of Industry (article 49); customs duty cut to 10% on solar cells and panels (heading 8541, article 50).
• Continuing training (article 59): training costs approved by the CNFCPP would be deducted from the vocational training tax in the following monthly returns. Applies from 1 January 2028.

Digital and electronic payments

• Customs duty cut to 10% on smartphones (article 68) and on certain telecom terminals (heading 851762, article 64).
• Electronic payment terminals (heading 847050): 0% customs duty and VAT exemption (article 69).
• A new TND 20 stamp duty on each registration of a mobile phone in the central equipment-identifier register, except the first registration, declared by the CERT (article 67). It does not affect company invoices.

New reporting obligation: delivery of online sales (article 66)

This is the most structural tax-control measure in the bill. Two types of operators are covered:

1. delivery providers for goods sold online or through audiovisual media (TV shopping);
2. online platforms that connect sellers with delivery providers.

Neither the website host nor the seller has to file this return: the seller is the one being reported. Within the first 15 days of each calendar half-year, these operators would send the tax authority a named list of the sellers they worked with in the previous half-year: identity, tax ID or, failing that, national ID number, and transaction amounts. Failure to comply would carry a fine of 5% of the unreported amounts, plus TND 200 for each missing, incomplete or incorrect item.

Measures for households

• First home (article 30): the first purchase of a home would benefit, once per buyer, from the rate set in item 4 of article 20 of the Registration and Stamp Duty Code.
• Duty on travel abroad: from TND 60 to TND 80 (article 24).
• Games and competitions: tax raised from 40% to 60% (article 24).
• Alcoholic beverages: higher excise duty (article 24). The additional revenue would go to funding social security.

Agriculture and state-owned enterprises

• TND 100 million over 2027–2030 for small olive growers and cooperatives (article 37), and a new special Treasury account for the olive oil sector (article 38).
• Up to TND 40 million to rebuild the cattle herd over 2027–2030 (article 35).
• Several measures to clean up state-owned enterprises: waiver of tax penalties owed by the public pension fund CNRPS (article 52), State takeover of debts owed to the CNRPS by OTD, SNCFT, Transtu and SNCPA (article 53), write-off of tax debts of OACA, the civil aviation and airports authority (article 57), and capital increases.

What the figures show

• Taxes fund most of the budget: tax revenue accounts for about 91% of State revenue.
• Financing relies mainly on the domestic market: nearly TND 19.8 billion of domestic borrowing against TND 6.9 billion of external borrowing.
• Central Bank facilities are renewed for a fourth year: TND 7 billion in 2024 and 2025, a TND 11 billion ceiling in 2026, and TND 9.8 billion proposed for 2027.

The tax advisers and chartered accountants quoted in the press (Mohamed Salah Ayari, Omar Besbes) note that the bill combines investment incentives, social measures and new reporting obligations, and that their effect will depend on the implementing texts.

My analysis

1. Tax audits will rely more and more on third-party data. Article 66 is a textbook example: your receipts through a delivery company will be known to the tax authority, whether you declare them or not. E-invoicing points the same way. For a company, the consequence is simple: any gap between your returns and the data the tax authority receives from third parties will become visible. Clean, reconciled books are no longer just good practice; they are protection.

2. The incentives are real, but targeted. The TND 5 million envelope for social contributions will cover a limited number of beneficiaries. The new-company exemption excludes trade and several services. Several benefits depend on approval or a technical opinion from a ministry. Check your eligibility, and how long approval takes, before building a business plan on it.

3. Read the text, not just the summaries. Several published summaries have simplified measures. Article 39, for example, does not create a VAT suspension on imports: it extends to local products a benefit that already existed for imports. Before changing your procedures, always go back to the article.

4. One point to watch: e-invoicing. The 2026 Finance Act extended mandatory e-invoicing to services. Parliament later discussed a postponement and a gradual roll-out in 2027. The 2027 bill contains no provision on that timetable. Whatever the deadline, the direction is set: get your ERP ready for the TEIF format and the El Fatoora platform.

Your checklist before 1 January 2027

1. Follow the law as passed and published in the Official Journal, not just the draft.
2. If you are creating an entity in 2027: check eligibility for the article 22 regime and the article 14 scheme.
3. If you pay self-employed contractors: stop withholding tax on their payments from 1 January 2027, after checking their registration.
4. If you are a delivery provider or a matchmaking platform: organise the collection of your sellers’ tax IDs from January, as the first return falls due in July 2027.
5. Update in your ERP the settings that are actually affected: withholding tax for self-employed contractors, VAT treatment of leasing, customs duty and VAT on the imported products concerned.
6. Prepare for e-invoicing (TEIF, signing certificate, connection to TTN).

This article is based on the text of the draft 2027 finance bill sent to the Assembly of the Representatives of the People and on analyses published in the press between August and November 2026. It does not replace reading the final text or tax advice tailored to your situation.

Sources: draft 2027 finance bill (text sent to the ARP); La Presse, Business News, Réalités, Espace Manager, Webdo, News Tunisia.