Payroll's three hands: PAYE, NSSA and ZIMDEF

The salaries go out on time and PAYE gets paid. But the employer's NSSA share and the ZIMDEF levy get left for later, and later becomes months. Every payroll has three hands in it.

PAYE and the AIDS levy

These are ZIMRA's 2025 monthly bands in US dollars:

• the first US$100 at 0%;
• 20% up to US$300;
• 25% up to US$1,000;
• 30% up to US$2,000;
• 35% up to US$3,000;
• 40% above that.

Each band only taxes the dollars inside it, so a raise never leaves anyone worse off. On top of the tax comes the AIDS levy: 3% of the tax worked out. ZIMRA publishes a table for each pay period, daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly, in US dollars and in ZiG. When we checked on 12 October 2026, no 2026 table had been published, so 2025's was still the latest.

PAYE and the levy go to ZIMRA by the 10th of the following month.

NSSA

4.5% from the employee, and the same again from the employer, on earnings up to the insurable ceiling. NSSA's page gives US$700, and it is gazetted every quarter, so check the current one. NSSA's own example: US$900 of pay is capped at US$700, so US$31.50 from the employee and US$31.50 from the employer, US$63 in all.

ZIMDEF

1% of the whole gross wage bill, paid by the employer and never deducted from staff. The wage bill is more than basic pay: ZIMDEF's form counts bonuses, leave pay, and the employer's pension and medical aid contributions.

The dates

• PAYE and the AIDS levy: by the 10th of the following month.
• NSSA: the return by the 5th of the month and the payment by the 10th.
• ZIMDEF: its own documents give more than one date, so confirm yours with ZIMDEF. Where a date is in doubt, pay by the earlier one.

How Decima POS runs it

One payroll works out PAYE, the AIDS levy, NSSA and ZIMDEF together, for a day, a week, a fortnight or a month, and tells you where its rates came from, asking you to check them before you pay anybody. Running the payroll pays nobody: it shows what you now owe, and to whom. Each amount comes off the list when the money actually leaves the bank.

The pay day routine

• Check the PAYE table and the NSSA ceiling are current.
• Run the payroll with all three hands together, and give every employee a payslip.
• Pay ZIMRA, NSSA and ZIMDEF, and keep the proof of payment with the payroll run.

Decima Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. General information, not tax advice for your business.