Tonga Withholding tax rates
Tonga Withholding tax rates: no single figure applies. The reason is set out below, cited to the governing instrument. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
Tonga's final withholding tax on payments to non-residents under sections 6, 9 and 79 of the Income Tax Act 2007 (Cap 11.05) - royalties, interest, technical services fees, dividends, natural resource amounts, rent, management fees and insurance premiums, plus independent-services business income - each at its domestic statutory rate before any double-tax agreement relief. Administered by the Ministry of Revenue and Customs.
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| Current value | structured — see the API |
|---|---|
| In force from | — |
| Official source | Income Tax Act 2007 (Cap 11.05, 2020 Revised Edition), s 79(2): 'A person paying a Tongan-source royalty, interest, technical services fee, dividend, natural resource amount, rent, management fee, or insurance premium to a non-resident person shall withhold tax from the gross amount paid at the rate specified in the Order referred to in section 6 of this Act'; Ministry of Revenue and Customs, Non Residents and Visitors: 'shall withhold tax from the gross amount paid at the rate of: in the case of an insurance premium, 5%; in the case of rent, 7.5% or in any other case, 15%' |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
THERE IS NO SINGLE WITHHOLDING TAX RATE, WHICH IS WHY value IS NULL. Tonga withholds at 15% on most non-resident payment heads but at 5% on insurance premiums, 7.5% on rent and 10% on independent-services business income. A caller wanting a number must name which payment type; read withholding_rates rather than expecting a headline figure. ALL RATES ARE DOMESTIC STATUTORY RATES, BEFORE TREATY RELIEF. Tonga has almost no double-tax agreements, so the domestic rates normally stand; we do NOT serve treaty rates in any case. NO SERIES effective_from IS ASSERTED: the Act (in force 2008) and the Ministry's pages state the rates without commencement dates for the current figures. STRUCTURE: s 6 imposes the tax on the non-resident's Tongan-source income by Order of the Minister with Cabinet approval; s 79 makes the payer withhold at the Order's rates; s 9 and s 90 make the withheld tax FINAL - the income is excluded from gross income, no deductions or losses may reduce it, and no refund arises. The tax does not apply where the underlying claim, property or services are effectively connected with the non-resident's permanent establishment in Tonga (s 6(2)) - such income is assessed under s 5 instead.
Get it programmatically
curl https://ausref.dev/v1/to/withholding-tax
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://ausref.dev/v1/to/withholding-tax/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://ausref.dev/provenance/to/withholding-taxOther Tonga series: NRBT policy rate (mid-rate of the Interest Rate Corridor) · Consumption Tax (CT) standard rate · Consumption tax registration threshold · National minimum wage · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate income tax rate · Court-rule interest on judgment debts · Personal income tax brackets · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Vanuatu · Australia · Fiji · New Zealand · Papua New Guinea · all 8