Finance Act, 2025

The Finance Act, 2025 carries the 2026 budget measures. The headline for consumers is VAT: the general rate in Chapter IV of the Finance Act moves from 15 per cent to 15,5 per cent with effect from 1 January 2026. Landlords and tenants of business premises face a new 15 per cent presumptive rental income tax on rent from tenants who are themselves presumptive taxpayers, with proprietors required to register with ZIMRA once the Minister prescribes the notice, and a US$30 fixed penalty plus US$30 a day, capped at 90 days, for failing to do so.

Gambling is taxed harder: gaming operators pay 20 per cent of gross monthly takings and punters 25 per cent of gross winnings from the 2026 year of assessment. Mining levies rise — the levy on lithium, black granite, quarry stone and dimensional stone moves from 1 per cent to 3 per cent of gross value and now catches coal, while gold royalties for miners other than the primary producers move to a sliding 3 / 5 / 10 per cent depending on whether the gold price is at, above US$1 200, or above US$5 000 an ounce. New 10 per cent export taxes apply to unbeneficiated chrome and to antimony, lithium ore and concentrate are taxed at 10 per cent with lithium sulphate at zero, and export taxes must be paid in United States dollars.

A new 20 per cent special capital gains tax applies from 1 January 2026 to transfers of shares or interests in "land-holding entities" — broadly, foreign or foreign-controlled companies, trusts, syndicates and nominees that hold Zimbabwean land — wherever in the world the transaction takes place. It is payable in US dollars within 30 days of the transfer being recorded, by the transferee, with the Commissioner able to extend payment by up to three months.

On the relief side: intermediated money transfer tax paid by a corporate or trading taxpayer becomes deductible, but only for taxpayers who are registered, fiscalised where required, and holding a valid tax clearance certificate. IMTT itself is confirmed at 1,5 per cent of local currency transactions, with a flat charge equivalent to US$10 150 on single transactions of US$500 000 or more. New incentives cover business and knowledge process outsourcing (a 15 per cent income tax rate, a US$1 500 per additional employee youth credit capped at US$60 000 a year, and a 100 per cent first-year capital expenditure deduction), film production (double capital allowances), public sports facilities (150 per cent of construction or refurbishment spend, split 100/50 across two years), and a credit of up to US$10 000 for corporate spending on rural sports academies or registered sports development programmes. Expatriates employed in a declared international financial services centre are taxed at 15 per cent, and the Mutapa Investment Fund, the Victoria Falls International Financial Centre and its subsidiaries, registered pooled pension funds investing in real estate, and Infralink's Plumtree–Harare–Mutare toll revenue are exempted from income tax.

Administration tightens across the board. A tax invoice now means a fiscal invoice produced by an approved fiscal device and validated on ZIMRA's Fiscalisation Data Management System. Employers must file PAYE returns monthly. The permanent establishment test drops to 90 days in any 12 months and expressly catches service provision and construction sites. ZIMRA may lock premises for up to 180 days, with a level 14 fine or five years' imprisonment for breaking the lock. A clearing agent whose licence is cancelled cannot be re-licensed for five years unless the cause is fixed. Every arm of the State must offer an electronic payment option for statutory fees. Quarry mining, granite mining, brick moulding and travel agency businesses become reserved sectors under the indigenisation law, virtual asset service providers are brought within the money laundering law, and the Gold Trade Act is amended to create authorised gold bars of 99,5 per cent purity from the national refinery, with up to 15 years' imprisonment for tampering with or smelting one.