Finance (Amendment of Sections 38 and 39 Finance Act) Regulations, 2024

The Minister of Finance has made a temporary change to the Finance Act's capital gains provisions. Both changes take effect immediately and last six months; the instrument was gazetted on 28 June 2024.

Section 39 (rates of capital gains withholding tax) is rewritten. On the sale of a listed marketable security, the rate is 2% of the price at which the security was sold, and the amount withheld is the final tax — there is no further assessment. On the sale of a marketable security that is not listed, the rate is 5% of the sale price. Two paragraphs, (c) and the old (d), are repealed.

Section 38 (rates of capital gains tax) loses paragraph (a)(iii) for the same six-month period.

The instrument's own explanatory note puts it plainly: capital gains withholding tax is a final tax on listed marketable securities at 2% of the sale price for six months from publication, and no capital gains tax applies during that six-month assessment period.

The practical effect for an investor selling shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in that window is a simple 2% deduction at source and nothing more to pay. Because the change is time-limited, the position reverts at the end of six months unless it is extended, so the date of sale determines the treatment. The instrument does not print a calendar end date for the six-month window.