Tanzania Court Filing Fees

Going to court in Tanzania — what it costs

Tanzania's courts are arranged in a hierarchy: Primary Court → District / Resident Magistrate Court → High Court → Court of Appeal. Court filing fees are set in regulations; lawyer fees are typically the largest single cost.

Filing fee logic

• Primary Court — flat fees TZS 5,000–50,000 by claim band. Suitable for claims up to ~TZS 30M.
• Resident Magistrate / District — sliding scale, ~0.5–1% of claim value, with floor and ceiling.
• High Court — ~2% of claim value with a floor of TZS 100,000. Original jurisdiction for higher-value or constitutional matters.
• Court of Appeal — flat TZS 200,000+ filing; the largest cost is appeals advocate.

What else adds to the cost

• Service of summons — TZS 10,000–25,000 per defendant.
• Witnesses — transport reimbursement.
• Court costs — clerks, certified copies, transcripts.
• Lawyer fees — primary courts work without advocates; from district level upwards expect 200k–5M+ depending on complexity.
• Mediation — many courts now require mandatory mediation first; success rate is high.

Alternatives to court

1. Letter of demand first — many disputes settle. See the Letter of Demand template.
2. Mediation — Tanzania Mediation Centre, NCC, or court-annexed.
3. Arbitration — fast for commercial disputes, especially if the contract specifies arbitration.
4. Tribunal route — Labour Tribunal, Tax Appeals Tribunal, Fair Competition Tribunal.

Confirm current rates at judiciary.go.tz.

Take this further

Litigation is what happens after collections fail. Tawala CRM ages every debtor and sends staged SMS and WhatsApp reminders, and Tawala Finance shows exactly what is outstanding — most disputes never reach a filing fee.

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