Hustlers Cry Foul as Zimra Tightens Tax Net
By Staff Reporter
The knock on the door — or the message on the till slip machine — sounds different depending on who’s answering it. For ZIMRA, it’s a routine reminder to “regularize your affairs.” For the vendor on the corner, the tailor working from a rented room, or the driver logging into Bolt at 5am, it can feel like a threat aimed squarely at people who are barely staying afloat.
That tension has boiled over into a genuine public argument in 2026: is Zimbabwe’s tax net designed to grow the economy, or is it squeezing the people least able to absorb the pressure?
The “Survivalist” vs. the Taxman
The core disagreement is about proportion. Businesses running on razor-thin margins say they’re being asked to choose between restocking and paying tax — and that ZIMRA’s push for “voluntary disclosure” doesn’t feel voluntary at all.
Two complaints come up again and again:
- Killing the seedlings. Treating a start-up hairdresser or a one-person welding shop the same as an established company, critics argue, discourages exactly the kind of small business formation the economy needs.
- The retail-wholesale squeeze. Small retailers say manufacturers and wholesalers are increasingly selling directly to end consumers, cutting retailers out of the supply chain entirely — while ZIMRA’s compliance drive still targets the retailer for tax. The complaint, in short: why chase the small fish while the big players erode the very market the small fish depend on?
ZIMRA’s Position: If You’re Trading, You’re Paying
ZIMRA’s answer hasn’t changed: the law taxes income, not appearances. A plumber, a musician, or a content creator all owe tax whether or not they have an office, a licence, or a storefront.
That principle is playing out very concretely in 2026:
Presumptive tax on the informal sector. Traders who don’t keep formal books of account fall under presumptive tax — set at 10% of turnover for many informal operators — rather than standard corporate or income tax. Anyone who does keep proper books, files returns, and holds a valid tax clearance certificate is exempt from the presumptive charge instead. In other words, presumptive tax isn’t a punishment for informality — it’s what applies by default until a business formalises.
Landlords are now the enforcement mechanism. Under the Finance Act (No. 7) of 2025, a new Presumptive Rental Income Tax took effect on 1 January 2026, requiring commercial property owners — including diaspora landlords — to register with ZIMRA and withhold tax from tenants who can’t produce a valid tax clearance certificate. Landlords must also continue withholding the existing 10% informal traders’ tax from qualifying tenants, meaning some tenants now sit under two overlapping tax layers collected through the same landlord. Non-compliant landlords face a penalty equal to 100% of unpaid tax, and ZIMRA can even instruct a tenant to pay outstanding tax directly out of future rent. It’s a striking shift: instead of chasing thousands of individual informal traders one by one, ZIMRA is now deputising the person who leases them their space.
The digital economy is next. ZIMRA’s domestic taxes commissioner, Misheck Govha, has confirmed plans to roll out a dedicated e-commerce tax platform targeting ride-hailing apps such as Bolt and InDrive, along with short-term rental platforms in the Airbnb mould. Zimbabwe’s ride-hailing sector alone is projected to generate more than US$5 million in revenue this year, with over 2.5 million users expected by 2030 — a market ZIMRA has signalled it does not intend to leave untaxed. Govha’s message has been blunt: registering a vehicle or platform with a city council, and being tax-compliant with ZIMRA, are two entirely separate obligations — satisfying one doesn’t excuse the other.
“Donations” don’t change the substance. ZIMRA has also pushed back on a common workaround: labelling income as a “donation” to avoid declaring it as trade revenue. The authority’s stated position is that it assesses the substance of a transaction, not the label attached to it.
Why the Small Fish Feel Singled Out — The Numbers Behind the Complaint
The retailers’ frustration isn’t just a feeling; it’s backed by research. A study of ZIMRA’s presumptive tax system found that the informal sector it targets contributes an estimated 60% of Zimbabwe’s GDP, yet accounts for only around 3% of total tax revenue collected. Researchers pointed to patchy implementation, limited awareness campaigns among traders, and a lack of consultation with the informal sector when tax rates were set — a combination that has bred what the study called “spirited resistance” rather than compliance.
That gap helps explain the political friction: a sector that makes up the majority of economic activity is proving the hardest, and least cost-effective, to actually tax — which is part of why ZIMRA keeps reaching for third-party collectors like landlords and delivery platforms instead of chasing traders directly.
Trust Is the Real Currency
Tax administrators globally have found the same pattern, and Zimbabwe is no exception: compliance rises when people believe their contributions come back as visible services — roads, clinics, schools, security. Until that link feels real to the person filing an ITF263 or renewing a tax clearance certificate, “compliance” will keep being read as extraction rather than contribution.
What’s Next
ZIMRA says it has taken note of feedback on platform-based taxation and the pressure wholesalers are putting on small retailers. Whether that translates into policy change — a lighter-touch regime for genuine start-ups, tighter rules on manufacturer-to-consumer sales bypassing retail — or simply gets filed away remains an open question as the cost of doing business in Zimbabwe continues to climb.
For now, the practical advice for anyone hustling in this environment is the same regardless of which side of the argument they’re on: don’t wait to be found. Understand which presumptive tax category applies to you, keep whatever records you can, and register before a landlord, a platform, or an audit does it for you.
What’s your take: should compliance stay uniform for every business regardless of size, or is it time for a genuine “breathing room” grace period for small and start-up traders?
This article draws on Zimbabwe’s Finance Act (No. 7) of 2025, ZIMRA public notices on the Presumptive Rental Income Tax, and published research on presumptive tax administration in Zimbabwe.
