Zimbabwe raises its standard VAT rate to 15.5%
This page records one dated change. For the rules in Zimbabwe as they stand today, see the Zimbabwe guide →
- Jurisdiction
- 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
- Tax
- VAT
- Change type
- Rate change
- Status
- In force
- Impact
- Action required
- Announced
- 9 February 2026
- Effective
- 1 January 2026
- Authority
- Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA)
- Systems
- Tax engine, Invoicing, ERP, POS, Reporting
- Verified
- Fetched from official source · high confidence
All registered operators in Zimbabwe, with a specific computation for Category A filers on the combined December 2025/January 2026 return.
Update Zimbabwe VAT rate tables to 15.5% in ERP, invoicing and POS systems, and check that any returns filed for periods from January 2026 used 15.5%.
Tax engineInvoicingERPPOSReporting
Zimbabwe's standard VAT rate rose from 15% to 15.5% with effect from 1 January 2026 under the Finance Act, 2025 (Act No. 7 of 2025). ZIMRA Public Notice No. 7 of 2026, issued 9 February 2026, sets out the transitional treatment: Category A (monthly) registered operators apply 15% to December 2025 supplies and 15.5% to January 2026 supplies within the combined December 2025/January 2026 return.
What changed in detail
Zimbabwe’s standard VAT rate rose from 15% to 15.5% with effect from 1 January 2026 under the Finance Act, 2025 (Act No. 7 of 2025).
ZIMRA Public Notice No. 7 of 2026, issued 9 February 2026, sets out the transitional treatment in TaRMS. The rate applying by VAT category is 15.5% for Categories B, C and D, and for Category A it is 15% for December 2025 supplies and 15.5% for January 2026 supplies within the combined December 2025/January 2026 return.
Because the combined return is configured to compute tax at 15.5%, Category A operators are directed to determine December 2025 output tax at 15%, work backwards to the value of supply that produces the same output tax at 15.5%, add the January 2026 value of supply, and declare the total. The same method applies to any 2026 period where the time-of-supply rules under section 8 of the VAT Act [Chapter 23:12] require output tax to be accounted for at 15%. Taxpayers are asked to attach a summary of December and January sales to the return.
What it means
A half-point move is easy to miss and expensive to get wrong across seven months of filings — the error is small per invoice and large in aggregate, and it compounds silently until an audit.
The transitional mechanics matter as much as the rate. TaRMS does not accept a 15% line; it accepts a grossed-down value of supply that produces the right tax at 15.5%. That means the declared value of supply on the December/January return will deliberately not tie to the sales ledger, which is why ZIMRA asks for the supporting summary.
Proof
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) would like to advise all Registered Operators that the change of VAT rate from 15% to 15.5% effective 01 January 2026 shall vary the way Value of Supply under Declaration of Output Tax and Consideration under Adjustments of Output/Input Tax is declared on the VAT return.