Item attributes

Tax Types and VAT Categories

The tax_type attribute determines the VAT treatment applied to the line item on the TRA fiscal receipt or invoice. Setting the correct tax_type is required for EFDMS compliance.

Code	VAT Rate	Category Letter	Category Name	Description and Scope
`STANDARD`	18% (`0.18`)	`A`	Standard Rate	Standard VAT rate applied to most taxable goods and services in Tanzania.
`SPECIAL_RATE`	0% (`0.00`)	`B`	Special Rate	Sector-specific special rate prescribed under specific Ministerial orders.
`ZERO_RATED`	0% (`0.00`)	`C`	Zero Rated	Taxable at 0% with input VAT recovery. Applies to exported goods and international freight.
`SPECIAL_RELIEF`	0% (`0.00`)	`D`	Special Relief	Supplies provided under special statutory relief (e.g. diplomatic missions, donor-funded projects).
`EXEMPTED`	0% (`0.00`)	`E`	Exempt	Wholly exempt supplies under the VAT Act (e.g. financial services, unprocessed agricultural produce).

Price and Discount Calculations

When registering catalog items via POST /items or specifying line items via POST /invoices, the following pricing attributes apply:

Unit Amount

The unit_amount represents the price of a single unit of the product or service in Tanzanian Shillings (TZS).

Invoice Amount Type (`INCLUSIVE` vs `EXCLUSIVE`)

The invoice-level property invoice_amount_type dictates how line item amounts are interpreted:

EXCLUSIVE: The unit_amount excludes VAT. DigiTax computes the line subtotal as $\text{Quantity} \times \text{Unit Amount}$, calculates VAT based on the tax_type (e.g. $\times 0.18$ for STANDARD), and computes tax_inclusive_total as $\text{Subtotal} + \text{VAT}$.
INCLUSIVE: The unit_amount includes VAT. DigiTax extracts the VAT portion using the statutory fraction ($\frac18118$ for STANDARD) and calculates the tax-exclusive base amount accordingly.

Discounts

Line-level discounts can be applied in two ways:

discount_rate: A decimal fraction between 0 and 1 (e.g. 0.1 represents a 10% discount).
fixed_discount: A fixed monetary amount deducted in TZS from the line subtotal.

Tax Types and VAT Categories

Price and Discount Calculations

Unit Amount

Invoice Amount Type (INCLUSIVE vs EXCLUSIVE)

Discounts

Invoice Amount Type (`INCLUSIVE` vs `EXCLUSIVE`)