Tax · 11 October 2026
The 30% you lose without a tax clearance
Why a customer must withhold 30% of what they pay a supplier with no valid ITF263, how to keep your clearance all year, and how to check a supplier's.
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Paying income tax on profit you have not finished making yet sounds like a riddle. It is the law, and it is called a QPD.
What a QPD is
QPD stands for quarterly payment date. QPDs are instalments of provisional income tax, paid during the year, on an estimate of the whole year's tax. ZIMRA's notices say they apply to taxpayers whose income comes from a business or an investment.
The four instalments
- 10% of the year's estimated tax in March: the return by 20 March and the payment by 25 March.
- 25% in June.
- 30% in September.
- 35% in December, with the return by 15 December and the payment by 20 December.
The return and the payment now have separate dates. The return comes first, filed in TaRMS, then the payment a few days later. Both have to be on time.
The currency rule
ZIMRA's 2026 notice says that if more than half your estimated income is in foreign currency, you use the fifty fifty basis. If it is half or less, you account in the currency you trade in. It is worked out on the estimate, before you pay.
Newly on QPDs
From 2025, architects, engineers, lawyers, health practitioners and estate agents moved off presumptive tax. From 2026, operators of buses, goods vehicles and boats joined them. They now file returns and pay QPDs like everyone else.
Why QPDs catch people out
You are estimating a year you have not had yet, from books that are often months behind. A short or late QPD does not go away. It is still owed, and it means you are no longer up to date, which is exactly what a tax clearance needs.
How Decima POS helps
Because the books are kept as you trade, the year's tax is worked out from the books as they stand and set against every QPD date. Decima Glance flags a short QPD while there is still time to put it right, and the Tax and ZIMRA card shows what falls due next.
A QPD routine, four times a year
- Update the year's estimate from this year's books, not last year's.
- Work out this quarter's share: 10, 25, 30 or 35 percent.
- File the return first, pay by the payment date, and keep the proof of payment with the return.
- Ask your accountant to check the estimate before the big December instalment.
Sources
- The four instalments of 10%, 25%, 30% and 35%; return dates; the fourth payment by 20 December 2025; self-employed professionals on QPDs from 1 January 2025. ZIMRA Public Notice 68 of 2025 (read 11 October 2026) https://www.zimra.co.zw/public-notices?download=4419%3Apublic-notice-68-of-2025-4th-quarter-provisional-income-tax
- First 2026 QPD dates and 10%; the fifty fifty basis; transport operators and professionals moved to self-assessment from 1 January 2026. ZIMRA Public Notice 17, 2026 First Quarterly Payments Date (read 11 October 2026) https://www.zimra.co.zw/public-notices?download=4473:public-notice-17-of-2025-2026-first-quarterly-payments
- Payment dates 25 March, 25 June, 25 September and 20 December. ZIMRA, Tax Payment Dates (read 11 October 2026) https://www.zimra.co.zw/domestic-taxes/tax-payment-dates
Rates, thresholds and dates change. Check the source, or ask your accountant, before relying on any of them.
