ZimCompany › Guides › NSSA registration
A new Zimbabwean company needs NSSA registration when it becomes an employer, not when it is incorporated. The National Social Security Authority says all employers must register within 30 days of becoming an employer, on its portal. From then on the company files a P4 return every month and pays 4.5% of each employee’s insurable earnings, matched by the employee.
By The ZimCompany desk in Harare, a Lioncap Ventures service. Published . Last updated , with every source read on the date listed at the end.
NSSA’s registrations page is short and plain: registration to the schemes is compulsory, and all employers must register within 30 days of becoming an employer. A company with nobody on its payroll is not an employer, so it has nothing to register yet.
NSSA also says that as soon as a person is paid a salary or wage, social security contributions are due for that month. So both follow from the first hire: 30 days to register from becoming an employer, and contributions due in the month the first salary is paid.
ZIMRA runs a separate clock for the same event. Its New Businesses page says every business person who becomes an employer must apply to ZIMRA for registration within 14 days of becoming an employer. So a company that hires registers twice, with two different deadlines.
NSSA’s contributions page says the employer and the employee each contribute 4.5% of insurable earnings to the Pension and Other Benefits Scheme, up to an insurable earnings ceiling of US$700. At that ceiling each side pays US$31.50 a month, US$63.00 together. NSSA notes the ceiling is gazetted quarterly and subject to change, and that deductions are made for employees below the age of 65.
The Accident Prevention and Workers Compensation Scheme is a separate premium. NSSA classifies businesses by industry, allocates each industrial classification an insurance rate based on risk, and reviews and gazettes the rates each year; the premium is paid on the wage bill for all employees regardless of age. We confirm the rate for your sector rather than quoting one figure for every employer.
NSSA’s pages set out the monthly routine once a company is registered: the P4 monthly return, e-filed on the self service portal, which breaks the contributions down by employee, and the P4A remittance advice that goes with the payment. New employees are registered on the portal, and employees who leave are updated there too.
At the end of each year NSSA prepares a WC50 wage declaration for each employer to complete. It is for the Accident Prevention and Workers Compensation Scheme, and NSSA uses it to assess the employer’s risk and set the rate for the following year.
Our fee for nssa employer registration in Zimbabwe: US$90. Government fees included in the price, not itemised by NSSA. Our fee and the government fee are always shown as two separate numbers.
Each item takes five working days from the day we have your complete documents, confirmed in writing by our filing partner. Where one item depends on another they run in sequence, so a ZIMRA registration waits for the certificate of incorporation and a tax clearance waits for the ZIMRA registration.
You pay in full when you instruct the job, in one payment rather than in stages. Our fee and the government fee are separate numbers on the quote, and government fees are passed through at cost. Your quotation arrives by email. Reply to it and we confirm your timeline in writing before you pay. If we cannot confirm a timeline in writing, anything you have paid comes back in full. Prices were last verified on 10 September 2026. The full price list is at ZimCompany pricing.
No. NSSA registers employers, and requires registration within 30 days of becoming an employer. A company with nobody on its payroll registers when it takes on its first employee.
Yes. The obligation arises when the company becomes an employer, whatever the number of employees, and registration is compulsory within 30 days.
No. They are two authorities with two deadlines. ZIMRA requires an employer to apply for registration within 14 days of becoming an employer, for Pay As You Earn. NSSA requires registration within 30 days, for social security.
NSSA’s contributions page gives 4.5% from the employer and 4.5% from the employee, on insurable earnings up to a ceiling of US$700, so US$31.50 each at the ceiling. The Accident Prevention and Workers Compensation Scheme premium is on top, at a rate set by industry.
NSSA’s registration is done on its portal, and the duty sits on the company rather than on the owner being present. ZimCompany files it for you, with the names, identity numbers, start dates and monthly earnings of the people on the payroll.
Each item takes five working days from the day we have your complete documents, confirmed in writing by our filing partner. Where one item depends on another they run in sequence, so a ZIMRA registration waits for the certificate of incorporation and a tax clearance waits for the ZIMRA registration. We do not publish a total for a job made of several items, because the dependent ones run one after another.
Nothing in this guide is legal or tax advice. Anything that amounts to legal advice is referred to a legal practitioner. Get an estimate.
ZimCompany registers and runs Zimbabwean companies for people and businesses anywhere in the world: owners living outside Zimbabwe, foreign investors, and companies registered elsewhere that need a Zimbabwean entity. Email support@lioncapventures.com or message +263 77 272 4514 on WhatsApp. We work 9:00 to 17:00 CAT, UTC+2 in Harare, Zimbabwe.
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