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How to register a company in Zimbabwe: steps, requirements and cost

To register a company in Zimbabwe, you reserve a name with CIPZ, file the incorporation documents within 30 days, then register with ZIMRA when trading starts. CIPZ charges US$5 per name-search application and US$60 to register a Private Limited Company. Our fee, CIPZ fees included at cost, is US$240, or US$160 for a Private Business Corporation.

By The ZimCompany desk in Harare, a Lioncap Ventures service. Published 14 September 2026. Last updated 14 September 2026, with every source read on the date listed at the end.

First choose the vehicle: Private Limited Company or Private Business Corporation

Company registration in Zimbabwe starts with a choice between two vehicles under the Companies and Other Business Entities Act [Chapter 24:31]. Make it first, because it decides who has to be appointed and which document the registry is sent.

A Private Limited Company is formed by one or more persons subscribing their names to a memorandum of association (section 76), and its name ends in "(Private) Limited" (section 77). Section 195(2): "At least one director shall be ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe." Section 198(1): "Every company shall have at least one secretary ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe." With more than one and fewer than ten shareholders it needs two or more directors, and with ten or more it needs at least three (section 195(1)). Its shareholders can be people or companies.

A Private Business Corporation is formed by one to twenty individuals subscribing their names to an incorporation statement (sections 247 and 252(1)), and its name ends in "Private Business Corporation" or "PBC" (section 248(1)(a)). Only individual natural persons can be members, never a company (section 253(1)). Neither residency duty appears in the Part of the Act that governs it; that is our reading of the Act, not legal advice. What it names instead is an accounting officer, on the incorporation statement (section 248(1)(g)), and the statement is signed by a person qualified under section 274 to be that officer (section 248(3)(b)).

For one owner abroad with nobody in Zimbabwe, a Private Business Corporation is usually the simpler vehicle. A company as the owner, more than twenty owners, or shares to issue to investors all point to a Private Limited Company.

Verified 14 September 2026 (Companies and Other Business Entities Act [Chapter 24:31]).

Private Business Corporation or Private Limited Company, for an owner outside Zimbabwe. What sections 195, 198, 248, 253 and 274 of the Act actually require, and which vehicle fits an owner who lives somewhere else.
Register a Private Business Corporation in Zimbabwe from anywhere. The vehicle with no residency requirement, which names a qualified accounting officer instead, and the usual answer for a single owner outside Zimbabwe.
Register a Private Limited Company in Zimbabwe from anywhere. The full company, with limited liability and shares, for owners who have someone resident in Zimbabwe to sit on the board.

The steps to start a company in Zimbabwe, in order

Search and reserve the name. CIPZ says a person seeking to form a company has to find out whether a name is available by submitting a name search with the prescribed fee. One application carries up to five names in order of preference and costs US$5, whether it holds one name or five. The Registrar may refuse a name that is identical to an existing one, so similar to one that it is likely to deceive, or likely to mislead the public (section 25).
File the incorporation documents within 30 days. CIPZ's portal says that once a name is confirmed available, the applicant must within 30 days of the notice submit the memorandum and articles of association, the registered office address and the list of directors and secretaries, with the prescribed fee: US$60 for a Private Limited Company. A Private Business Corporation files its incorporation statement instead (section 248). On registration the Registrar assigns a registered number and issues a certificate of incorporation (section 18(6)), and the company exists from the date of that certificate (section 19).
Register with ZIMRA. Register with ZIMRA when the company starts trading; as an employer, within 14 days of the first hire. ZIMRA registration is done online on its TaRMS self service portal and issues a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), which ZIMRA says is used for all transactions with it, including paying tax. It waits for the certificate of incorporation, because there is no company to register until the registry issues one.
Register with NSSA only once you employ someone. NSSA says all employers must register within 30 days of becoming an employer, on its portal. A company with nobody on its payroll is not an employer yet, so it has nothing to register.
Hold a tax clearance certificate (ITF263). Without a valid one, a registered business paying your company under contracts whose total is US$1,000 or more must withhold 30% of each payment. ZIMRA issues the certificate automatically to a compliant taxpayer and says it charges no fee for issuing it; what costs money is the compliance work that makes it issue.
Register for VAT only above the threshold. ZIMRA: a trader is liable to register once the value of taxable supplies exceeds, or is expected to exceed, US$25,000 or the ZiG equivalent within 12 months. Below that registration is voluntary, subject to a minimum turnover set by the Commissioner.
File the annual return every year. CIPZ's portal says a company's annual return must be submitted within 21 days of the anniversary of its incorporation, registration or re-registration.

What is ZIMRA registration, and does my company need it?. The tax registration every trading company needs, what it issues and what it commits the company to.
NSSA registration: when a new Zimbabwean company needs it. The employer registration that starts with your first hire, not with incorporation, and the contributions that follow.
Tax clearance certificate ITF263: what it is, and the US$1,000 withholding rule. What the certificate proves, the US$1,000 withholding rule in ZIMRA’s words, how long it lasts and how a company gets one.
VAT registration in Zimbabwe: the US$25,000 rule, and why a new company usually registers later. The compulsory threshold in ZIMRA’s words, the evidence ZIMRA asks for, and why a company incorporated last week usually cannot register yet.

Verified 14 September 2026 (CIPZ portal, ZIMRA, NSSA and the Companies and Other Business Entities Act). The CIPZ fee figures: Verified 4 July 2026 (CIPZ registry portal fee screens).

Requirements for registering a company in Zimbabwe

A name. Up to five proposed names in order of preference for one name-search application, and a main objective in three words or fewer, because the registry portal misbehaves on longer objectives.
A postal address and a registered office in Zimbabwe. Section 31(1) requires every registered business entity to have, in Zimbabwe, a postal address and a registered office at a physical address where legal process can be served. A Private Business Corporation's registered office may be the physical address of its accounting officer. Where you have no Zimbabwe address, we find you a registered office provider for a one-off US$50, and the provider's own annual fee is paid to them at cost.
For a Private Limited Company, a memorandum and articles. The memorandum states the name, that the liability of members is limited and the number of shares the company proposes to be registered with, and every subscriber takes at least one share (section 77). The articles may adopt Table B, the model articles for a private company limited by shares, and where none are registered Table B applies (section 81).
For a Private Limited Company, a resident director and a resident secretary. At least one director and one company secretary ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe (sections 195(2) and 198(1)), with as many directors as section 195(1) sets for the number of shareholders.
For a Private Business Corporation, an incorporation statement. It states the name, the postal address and the physical address of the registered office, each member's full name, identity document number and date of birth, each member's percentage interest and contribution, the accounting officer's name and postal address, the financial year end, and the objects (section 248(1) and (2)). Every member signs it, and so does the person qualified to be its accounting officer (section 248(3)).
Identity and address for everyone on the register. A clear scan of the identity document or passport and a recent proof of address, for every director, member or shareholder. A member with no Zimbabwean national identity number gives the number of another official identity document, such as a passport (section 248(1)(d)).
Ownership. Who holds what share or interest, and who signs for the company. Where a company is a shareholder, its own registration documents.

What has to be certified, and by whom where you live, depends on what is being registered and who is on the register. We send you that list with your estimate rather than a generic one, and we do not publish a notary, apostille or embassy step we have not confirmed for your filing.

Verified 14 September 2026 (Companies and Other Business Entities Act [Chapter 24:31], sections 31, 77, 81, 195, 198 and 248).

How much it costs to register a company in Zimbabwe

Every row below carries two numbers: our fee, and what the government charges for the same step. The CIPZ fees sit inside our registration prices at cost, never marked up. Where an authority does not itemise its part, the row says so rather than inventing a split.

Our fees are the ZimCompany price list. CIPZ fees: Verified 4 July 2026 (CIPZ registry portal fee screens).
Step	Our fee	Government fee
Private Business Corporation registration, the vehicle with no resident appointments	US$160	US$5 per name-search application at cost, included. The registry does not itemise a separate registration fee on this filing
Private Limited Company registration, with a resident director and secretary	US$240	US$5 per name-search application, two included, and US$60 to register the entity, all CIPZ fees at cost inside the price
Private Limited Company with a corporate director or shareholder	US$290	US$5 per name-search application, two included, and US$60 to register the entity, all CIPZ fees at cost inside the price
Third name search attempt, only if the first two applications are rejected	US$10	US$5 CIPZ name search per application, included in the US$10
Registered office sourcing service, only if you have no Zimbabwe address	US$50	No government fee on this line. The address provider charges its own annual fee, which you pay to the provider at cost, never marked up
ZIMRA registration and TIN, when the company starts trading	US$90	Government fees included in the price, not itemised by ZIMRA
NSSA employer registration, once the company employs someone	US$90	Government fees included in the price, not itemised by NSSA
Tax clearance certificate ITF263, first issue, before contracts of US$1,000 or more, or a tender	US$80	Government fees included in the price, not itemised by ZIMRA
VAT registration, only once taxable supplies pass US$25,000 in 12 months	US$450	Government fees included in the price, not itemised by ZIMRA
Annual returns filing, every year after incorporation	US$100	Government fees included in the price, not itemised by the registry

Every ZimCompany price. Every filing, bundle, renewal and the monthly compliance retainer, with the government fee as its own number.

Bought together, the steps cost less. Company Starter, Private Business Corporation: Bought separately US$340. Together US$300, a US$40 saving. Company Starter, Private Limited: Bought separately US$420. Together US$380, a US$40 saving. Both bundles hold the registration, ZIMRA registration and NSSA employer registration, so a company with nobody on the payroll is quoted the lines on their own and adds NSSA at its first hire.

An approved name is reserved for about 30 days and lapses if the company is not filed in that window. A further name search is then needed, at US$5 of CIPZ fees per application.

Registering a Zimbabwean company from abroad

Owning a Zimbabwean company carries no residency or citizenship requirement. Documents are signed where you live and sent digitally, the registration is lodged by a registered filing agent in Harare, and the ZIMRA and NSSA registrations that follow are done online.

Three things still need someone in Zimbabwe: the resident director and secretary of a Private Limited Company, the business bank account, and the government vendor number for a company that will sell to government. Banks currently ask the people behind a company to appear in person or send certified documents. Where a director is ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe, we prepare the bank pack and that director attends the branch; for an owner with nobody in Zimbabwe, that service is coming soon.

How to register a company in Zimbabwe from the UK or South Africa without travelling. What can be done from London or Johannesburg, what is filed online, and the three things that still need someone in Zimbabwe.

Foreign owners, foreign companies and the reserved sectors

A foreign national can own a Zimbabwean company, and a company registered outside Zimbabwe can hold the shares of a Private Limited Company. It cannot be a member of a Private Business Corporation (section 253(1)), so a foreign parent opening a subsidiary registers a Private Limited Company.

The Schedule to Statutory Instrument 215 of 2025 lists seventeen sectors. Thirteen sectors are exclusively for Zimbabweans: passenger buses, taxis and car hire services; barber shops, hairdressing and beauty salons; employment agencies; estate agencies; valet services; bakeries; tobacco grading and packaging; advertising agencies; provision of local arts and craft, marketing and distribution; artisanal mining; borehole drilling; clearing and customs; and pharmaceutical retailing. Three of them carry an exception for international brands, a term the regulations do not define: passenger buses, taxis and car hire services; estate agencies; and clearing and customs. The other four are open to a foreign national only at the Schedule's minimums of full-time paid employees and investment: retail and wholesale trade (200 employees and US$20,000,000); grain milling (50 employees and US$25,000,000); haulage and logistics (100 employees and US$10,000,000); and shipping and forwarding (20 employees and US$1,000,000). A foreign stake of any size counts, including a minority share and a share held by a company registered outside Zimbabwe, and operating in a reserved sector without a permit is an offence.

If an owner is not a Zimbabwean citizen and the company will mainly work in one of those sectors, or a foreign owner is buying into a company that already exists, the estimate starts with the foreign investor consultation rather than a price. The foreign investor consultation is US$150, paid before the consultation, credited in full against your quotation if you proceed, and not refunded if you do not, because the consultation has been delivered. Registration with the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency is reported to apply to a company with 51% or more foreign shareholding, and we confirm that with ZIDA before you act on it.

Verified 14 September 2026 (Government Gazette, S.I. 215 of 2025).

Invest in Zimbabwe: what a foreign-owned company actually needs. The requirements, the approvals and the sectors, published rather than saved for a sales call.
Opening a Zimbabwe subsidiary for a foreign company. Why the subsidiary is a Private Limited Company, what its board needs, how a branch differs, and the reserved sectors to check before you start.

What this costs

Our fees in Zimbabwe, one per item:

Private Business Corporation registration: US$160.
Private Limited Company registration: US$240.

US$5 per name-search application at cost, included. The registry does not itemise a separate registration fee on this filing US$5 per name-search application, two included, and US$60 to register the entity, all CIPZ fees at cost inside the price Our fees and the government fee are always shown as separate numbers.

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.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to register a company in Zimbabwe?

CIPZ charges US$5 per name-search application and US$60 to register a Private Limited Company, figures read off the registry portal on 4 July 2026. Our fee is US$240 for a Private Limited Company and US$160 for a Private Business Corporation, with those CIPZ fees inside it at cost, and the registry does not itemise a separate registration fee on a Private Business Corporation. ZIMRA registration (US$90), NSSA registration once you employ someone (US$90) and a first tax clearance (US$80) are separate lines.

What are the requirements for registering a company in Zimbabwe?

An available name, a postal address and a registered office in Zimbabwe (section 31), identity documents and proof of address for everyone on the register, and the constitutive documents. A Private Limited Company files a memorandum and articles and needs at least one director and one company secretary ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe (sections 195(2) and 198(1)). A Private Business Corporation files an incorporation statement that names a qualified accounting officer (sections 248 and 274).

How long does company registration in Zimbabwe take?

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. CIPZ gives the applicant 30 days from the notice that a name is available to submit the incorporation documents, so have them ready before the name search goes in. We do not publish a total for a job made of several items, because the dependent ones run one after another.

Can a foreigner start a company in Zimbabwe?

Yes. Owning a Zimbabwean company carries no citizenship or residency requirement; the residency requirements sit on the board of a Private Limited Company. A company registered outside Zimbabwe can own a Private Limited Company but not a Private Business Corporation (section 253(1)). Check the seventeen sectors reserved by Statutory Instrument 215 of 2025 before you choose what the company will do.

Do I need a Zimbabwean director to register a company?

Only for a Private Limited Company, which needs at least one director and one company secretary ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe under sections 195(2) and 198(1). The Act asks where they live, not what passport they hold. A Private Business Corporation has neither requirement and names a qualified accounting officer instead. We do not sell a nominee director, and we do not provide a company secretary or an accounting officer.

Can I register a company in Zimbabwe online?

Yes. Section 18(1) of the Act allows constitutive documents to be registered electronically, by a self-actor or a registered user of the electronic registry (section 18(2)), and CIPZ runs name searches and new registrations on its online portal. ZIMRA registration is done on its TaRMS self service portal, and NSSA registration on the NSSA portal.

Does a new company have to register for VAT straight away?

No. Registration is compulsory once 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, and ZIMRA asks for a sales schedule, invoices or signed contracts and a stamped bank statement, which a company registered last week rarely has.

Sources

Companies and Intellectual Property Office of Zimbabwe, CIPZ online portal (name search, new registration and annual return). Read 14 September 2026.
Companies and Other Business Entities Act [Chapter 24:31], text published by Veritas. Read 14 September 2026.
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, New Businesses. Read 14 September 2026.
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, Tax Clearance Certificate (ITF263). Read 14 September 2026.
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, VAT registration. Read 14 September 2026.
National Social Security Authority, Registrations. Read 14 September 2026.
Statutory Instrument 215 of 2025, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment (Foreign Participation in Reserved Sectors) Regulations, 2025, gazette text published by Veritas. Read 14 September 2026.

Nothing in this guide is legal or tax advice. Anything that amounts to legal advice is referred to a legal practitioner. Get an estimate.

Talk to ZimCompany

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.