ZimCompany › Guides › VAT registration threshold
VAT registration in Zimbabwe is compulsory once a trader’s taxable supplies exceed, or are expected to exceed, US$25,000 or the ZiG equivalent within 12 months. Below that it is voluntary, subject to a minimum turnover set by the Commissioner. ZIMRA asks for a sales schedule, invoices or signed contracts and a stamped bank statement, which a brand-new company rarely has.
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 VAT registration page: with effect from 1 January 2024 a trader is liable to register for VAT if the value of taxable supplies exceeds or is expected to exceed US$25,000.00 or ZiG equivalent within a period of 12 months.
Two phrases carry the rule. Exceeds covers a business that has already invoiced past the threshold. Expected to exceed covers one that has not yet, but holds contracts or a projection that will take it there within 12 months.
Below the threshold, registration is voluntary, subject to a minimum turnover set by the Commissioner and to conditions in the VAT Act. That makes it an application ZIMRA can decline.
Not registering once the threshold is passed has consequences ZIMRA spells out: the Commissioner General may register the operator compulsorily, the operator pays the VAT due with interest and penalties on the computed debt, and failure to register is an offence under the VAT Act [Chapter 23:12].
ZIMRA’s VAT registration requirements, as its page lists them:
Read the list as a description of a business that is already trading. A company incorporated last week has no sales schedule, no invoices to sample, often no bank statement and often no lease in its own name, so it cannot put together the application ZIMRA describes, whatever it would prefer.
The registration form itself points the same way. ZIMRA’s instructions ask for an effective date of registration, which it describes as the first day of the next month after reaching the threshold, and they ask a compulsory registration for a sales schedule for the past 12 months and a voluntary one for a sales schedule for the next 12 months.
The exception is a new company that already holds signed contracts which will take it past US$25,000 within 12 months. The expected-to-exceed limb of the rule is written for exactly that company, and signed contracts are on ZIMRA’s list.
That is why our questionnaire decides VAT on your expected turnover rather than on a tick box: under US$25,000 in the first year, or not known yet, and VAT registration stays out of your estimate as a note, at the same price for when you are ready.
ZIMRA says the following are not obliged to register for VAT:
Our fee for vat registration in Zimbabwe: US$450. Government fees included in the price, not itemised by ZIMRA. 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.
When the value of its taxable supplies exceeds, or is expected to exceed, US$25,000 or the ZiG equivalent within a period of 12 months. That is ZIMRA’s rule with effect from 1 January 2024.
It can apply. Voluntary registration is subject to a minimum turnover set by the Commissioner and to conditions in the VAT Act, and ZIMRA asks a voluntary applicant for a sales schedule for the next 12 months alongside the other requirements, including a stamped bank statement.
ZIMRA says the Commissioner General may register the operator compulsorily, the operator then pays the VAT due with interest and penalties on the computed debt, and failure to register is an offence under the VAT Act [Chapter 23:12].
ZIMRA’s registration instructions describe the effective date as the first day of the next month after the threshold is reached.
ZIMRA tells each operator its filing frequency. Its New Businesses page says most file monthly or every two months, and that returns and payments are due by the 25th of the month following the end of the tax period.
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.