Zimbabwe sets the compulsory VAT registration threshold at US$25,000 from 1 January 2024

What changed in detail

The Finance Act, 2023 (No. 13 of 2023), gazetted on 29 December 2023, substituted section 23(1)(a) of the Value Added Tax Act [Chapter 23:12] with effect from 1 January 2024.

A person carrying on a trade becomes liable to register for VAT at the end of any month in which the total value of taxable supplies over the preceding 12 months has exceeded US$25,000, or its equivalent in local currency at the auction rate, or the prescribed amount. Section 23(1)(b) adds a forward-looking test: liability also arises at the start of any month where there are reasonable grounds to believe taxable supplies in the next 12 months will exceed that amount.

ZIMRA’s guidance on the mechanics of VAT states the rule as applying to traders whose taxable supplies exceed or are likely to reach US$25,000 or the ZiG equivalent in 12 months, from 1 January 2024. Traders below the line may register voluntarily if they have a fixed place of business, keep records and have no record of non-compliance.

ZIMRA’s consolidated Act notes that the threshold was raised in 2020 and 2021, reduced by Finance Act 8/2022 and substituted by Finance Act 13/2023. Trade and advisory sources put the figure before 1 January 2024 at US$40,000.

What it means

The US$25,000 threshold is still in force. ZIMRA’s guidance gives the same figure today, and the Finance Act, 2025 used the same amount for non-resident digital-services suppliers from 1 January 2026 (record).

The test is a rolling 12 months, checked at each month-end, plus a forward-looking test, so a growing business can cross it mid-year. A trader that crosses it becomes “required to be registered”, which also brings in the fiscalisation duties and section 63A offences. Once registered, it charges the standard rate, 15.5% since 1 January 2026.