Trade in Rwanda under your own company

Every branch needs an authorised representative in Rwanda, appointed by the parent’s board resolution and named in the registration. The representative is the person the Registrar General, the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) and counterparties deal with. Official notices to the branch go to the representative.

Who can act

The representative can be an employee you relocate, a local manager you hire, or a professional appointee. What matters is that the person is reachable in Rwanda and has the authority the resolution grants. A foreign employee relocated to run the branch needs the right work or investor permit, which in turn needs the branch registration certificate.

What the resolution should say

• The full name, nationality and passport number of the representative.
• The scope of authority: signing contracts up to a value, opening and operating bank accounts, hiring staff, dealing with the RRA.
• Whether authority is sole or joint with a second signatory.
• How the appointment ends and who replaces the representative in the meantime.

Changing the representative

A change of representative is notified to the Registrar General. Treat it as a small refiling: a new resolution, certified the same way as the first one. Banks also update their mandate, so plan the handover before the departing person leaves Rwanda.

A German engineering company runs a two-year contract in Kigali through a branch. In its first full year the branch earns a taxable profit of RWF 100 million after deducting local costs and an arm’s-length management fee to Germany.

• Corporate income tax at 28%: RWF 28 million, paid through three advance instalments and the final return.
• Profit after tax: RWF 72 million.
• Withholding tax at 15% on repatriation of the full amount: RWF 10.8 million, remitted within 15 days after the end of the month of transfer.
• Cash reaching Germany: RWF 61.2 million, an effective Rwandan charge of 38.8% before any German credit or exemption.

Germany has no tax treaty with Rwanda listed by PwC, so the 15% rate applies without reduction. Whether Germany then exempts the branch profit or credits the Rwandan tax is a German question for the parent’s tax adviser. The management fee was also subject to 15% withholding tax when paid. The figures are an illustration of the mechanics, not a forecast.

Opening a konti ya banki (bank account) for a branch means the bank onboards your foreign parent. Rwanda has nine commercial banks, including Bank of Kigali, I&M Bank Rwanda, BPR Bank Rwanda, Equity Bank Rwanda and Ecobank Rwanda. Each runs its own due diligence on the parent, its owners and the source of its funds.

• The registered branch certificate and the representative’s appointment.
• The parent’s certified corporate documents, often a fresher copy than the one used for registration.
• The parent’s ownership chain up to the beneficial owners, with identity documents.
• Recent financial statements of the parent and a description of the Rwandan business.
• Specimen signatures and the mandate resolution for account signatories.

Domestic transactions in Rwanda are settled in Rwandan francs, amafaranga (money, francs), under BNR Regulation 42/2022 on foreign exchange operations as amended by Regulation 89/2025 of 30/05/2025. Pricing local sales in foreign currency requires authorisation. Foreign currency accounts and cross-border payments, including repatriation of profit, run through authorised banks. Law N° 006/2021 on investment promotion and facilitation, Art. 12, guarantees repatriation of profits after tax for investors.

A branch is closed by deregistration with the Registrar General once its Rwandan obligations are settled. The steps follow the same logic as opening, in reverse.

1. The parent’s board resolves to close the branch and appoints a person to handle the closure. The resolution is certified the same way as the opening resolution.
2. Employment contracts end in line with Law N° 66/2018 and the contracts themselves, with final PAYE and RSSB filings.
3. The branch files its final VAT, withholding and income tax returns. The RRA may audit before issuing clearance; it can review up to five years back, or ten where it suspects evasion.
4. Remaining profit is repatriated, with 15% withholding tax or the treaty rate where it applies. Law N° 006/2021, Art. 12 covers repatriation of liquidation proceeds for investors.
5. Bank accounts are closed, and the deregistration is filed with the Registrar General.

Records must be kept for at least ten years. That obligation survives the closure, so decide who holds the Rwandan books after the branch is gone.