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Guide · Malawi · Published 2026-10-11

How to invoice in Malawi: what to include

The fields a Malawi invoice needs, how to number and date it, when to show VAT, the e-invoicing rules, and how to fix a mistake with a credit note.

  • MK MWK
  • VAT 17.5%
  • TPIN
  • A4
  • English

Figures and dates in this guide come from public sources as of 2026-10-11 and have not yet been checked against Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA)'s current publications. Confirm anything you rely on.

What every invoice must show

  • It has to come out of the Electronic Invoicing System. Since 1 May 2026 an EFD-generated invoice is not a tax invoice and will not support an input-VAT claim. Any receipt the EIS generates is a tax invoice.
  • The unique reference number and QR code that the EIS prints on it. MRA's advice to buyers checking for a fake is to scan the QR code, which should return the receipt's details from MRA's system.
  • Your TIN, and on a business-to-business sale the buyer's name and buyer's TIN as well, captured at the EIS point of sale. The Tax Administration Act requires a TIN holder to put the TIN on any claim, notice, return, statement or other document used for the purposes of a tax law. A buyer who has switched on the Purchase Authorisation Code must give you that code for the sale to be attributed to them.
  • Malawi kwacha and the rate that the EIS has mapped to each product — 17.5%, zero-rated or exempt. The EIS applies tax rates itself from the product record, and it does not handle foreign currency.

Numbering, keeping and correcting invoices

Invoices are tax records. Section 39 of the Tax Administration Act, 2021 requires them to be kept in Malawi, in paper or retrievable electronic form, for at least six years, or longer while an objection, appeal or application about them is unresolved. Section 35(2) of the VAT Act separately bars destroying VAT records younger than six years without the Commissioner General's written permission.

A correction is made by an adjustment, not by editing the original. Section 29 of the VAT Act applies when a supply is cancelled, fundamentally varied, repriced by agreement or discount, or goods are returned. The supplier adjusts output tax in the period the event happens. Where the customer is not a taxable person, the credit is allowed only once the excess VAT has been repaid to the customer.

Failing to maintain proper documents costs 500 currency points for a company or 100 for an individual in the first month and 50 or 10 for each later month (a currency point is K1,000), and is also an offence under section 106 carrying a fine of 300 to 900 currency points or six months' imprisonment for an individual, and 1,000 to 10,000 currency points for a company.

Electronic invoicing in Malawi

Yes, and it is fully in force. The Electronic Invoicing System (EIS) is a web-based MRA system at eis-portal.mra.mw that issues electronic tax invoices, holds stock records, and transmits transaction data to MRA in real time; each invoice is validated and given a unique reference number and a QR code. Its basis is Part II of the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Act, 2024, under which the Commissioner General established the system, and the Value Added Tax (Electronic Invoicing System) Regulations, 2025, published 9 January 2026. It binds VAT-registered taxpayers — roughly 9,000 operators. Migration from Electronic Fiscal Devices opened on 2 August 2025 and the deadline moved twice, from November 2025 to February 2026 to 1 May 2026, when it took effect; EFDs, in use since 2014, are now completely phased out and may not be used. By June 2026 MRA reported over 8,260 businesses onboarded. Register on the EIS Taxpayer Portal with details matching your Msonkho Online record, upload your opening stock, and then either use the web portal, the desktop point of sale, the EIS Mobile POS app, or integrate your own accounting or POS system through MRA's API. The mobile and desktop points of sale, and integrations, keep working offline for up to 72 hours.

Sources

How this guide was made

Written from published tax-authority guidance and reviewed on 2026-10-11. Everything here is indicative rather than a ruling on your circumstances, and rules change. Confirm anything you rely on with Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) before acting on it, and tell us if you find something out of date so we can correct it.

This guide explains the rules in general terms and is not tax advice for your circumstances. Confirm your position with a qualified adviser or with Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA).