Bromo- and chloro-substituted tellurium(II) dithiocarbamate complexes were prepared by the reaction of iododiethyldithiocarbamatotellurium(II), dissolved in dichloromethane, with a suspension of their respective silver halide. The structure determination reveals the orthorhombic crystals of the complexes to be isomorphous, having halide-bridged polymeric structures. The polymeric chain adopts a helical configuration with the period of the helix being the length of the a-axis. Each tellurium has a TeS2X2 coordination. The Te - Br and Te - Cl distances observed in the complexes are 2.867(3) and 2.686(2) Å, respectively and this structure is similar to that of Te{(C2H5)2NCS2}1. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.