ZimCompany › Guides › Tax clearance ITF263
A tax clearance certificate, form ITF263, is ZIMRA’s confirmation that a taxpayer’s tax position is satisfactory. Without a valid one, a registered business paying your company under contracts worth US$1,000 or more in total must withhold 30% of each payment, under section 80 of the Income Tax Act. ZIMRA charges no fee and emails it to compliant taxpayers.
By The ZimCompany desk in Harare, a Lioncap Ventures service. Published . Last updated , with every source read on the date listed at the end.
ZIMRA’s New Businesses page points to section 80 of the Income Tax Act [Chapter 23:06]. It requires all registered business taxpayers who enter into contracts which result in an obligation to pay amounts whose total or aggregate is USD1,000 or the ZiG equivalent or more to withhold 30% of each amount payable to payees who fail to furnish valid tax clearance certificates.
Three things in that sentence matter to a company being paid. The threshold is the total or aggregate of the contract, not the size of one invoice, so a contract paid in small instalments is still caught once it adds up to US$1,000. The 30% comes off each payment, so the company receives seventy cents in the dollar until it produces a valid certificate. And the duty sits on the business paying you, which is why corporate and government customers ask for the certificate before they pay.
The same page notes one exception to the threshold: for withholding on agricultural commodities, including soya beans, sunflower, groundnuts and cotton seed, the tax-exempt threshold was reviewed from US$1,000 per annum to US$5,000.
ZIMRA describes an ITF263 as a tax clearance certificate issued by its Commissioner General to a person liable to pay tax, provided that the taxpayer’s tax position is satisfactory. Its own list of benefits is wider than the withholding rule.
There is no application for a compliant taxpayer. ZIMRA says the certificate is auto-generated by its system for compliant clients only, and sent to the email address captured in its database, and that compliant clients are no longer required to apply.
What makes a company compliant, in ZIMRA’s list:
ZIMRA also says no fee is charged for issuing the certificate, and asks taxpayers to report to the police or to ZIMRA anyone asking for payment to obtain one. Our fee is for the compliance work that makes the certificate issue and keeps it issuing, never for the certificate itself.
ZIMRA publishes two rules. Certificates for taxpayers classified as Large Client Office and Medium Client Office clients expire on 31 December each year. Every other tax clearance expires 12 months from the date of issue.
A company that ZIMRA has not classified as a large or medium client is on the 12 month rule. Either way, the renewal depends on the company still being up to date when the next certificate is due, which is the part that lapses when nobody is watching the calendar: returns that were never filed have to be filed before the next certificate issues.
Where you live makes no difference to ZIMRA’s conditions. What matters is that the returns and payments behind the certificate are done every month and quarter, and that the email address in ZIMRA’s database is one somebody actually reads, because that is where the certificate is sent.
A brand-new company is the simplest case: once it is registered, it has no filing history to be behind on.
Our fees in Zimbabwe, one per item:
Government fees included in the price, not itemised by ZIMRA Our fees and the government fee are always shown as 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.
A registered business that pays your company under contracts whose total or aggregate is US$1,000 or more must withhold 30% of each payment until you produce a valid certificate, under section 80 of the Income Tax Act. You would also be unable to meet the tax clearance requirement when bidding for tenders.
No. The rule applies to contracts whose total or aggregate is US$1,000 or the ZiG equivalent or more. Once a contract reaches that total, 30% is withheld from each amount payable under it.
No. ZIMRA says there is no fee charged for issuing tax clearance certificates, and asks taxpayers to report anyone who asks for payment to obtain one.
For Large Client Office and Medium Client Office taxpayers, until 31 December each year. For everyone else, 12 months from the date of issue.
The same way as anyone else: the certificate is generated automatically for a compliant taxpayer and emailed to the address in ZIMRA’s database. Keep the company’s returns and payments up to date and its email address current, and it arrives wherever you are.
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.
ZimCompany is a Lioncap Ventures service. Lioncap Ventures (Pvt) Ltd, registration 16326A02102024, Harare, Zimbabwe. Start with the questionnaire at https://zimcompany.com/start.