VAT · 12 October 2026
The deposit is when VAT is due
Taking a deposit: why VAT is due at the first invoice or payment, the rule for building work, and what to do when the balance is never paid.
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Watch the episode: Tari, Lisa and Decima on the same question, with demo data.
This one has a price tag on it: twenty five US dollars a day. ZIMRA publishes the figure, and here is where it comes from.
Who must fiscalise
ZIMRA's page on fiscalisation offences says it plainly: all VAT registered operators are required to fiscalise. Every sale goes through a fiscal device and is reported to ZIMRA. The rules come from Statutory Instrument 104 of 2010, with two more in 2016, so this is not new.
The penalty
Failing to fiscalise costs US$25 per point of sale, for each day the business stays in default, for up to 181 days. A shop with three tills has three penalties running every day, about US$4,500 a till over the full 181 days.
After 181 days it stops being a penalty and becomes a criminal offence: a fine up to level seven, up to twelve months in prison, or both. A VAT operator who is not using a fiscal device can also face an additional assessment under the VAT Act.
The cost nobody talks about
A VAT registered customer can only claim input tax on a valid fiscal tax invoice, printed by a fiscal device. If your receipt is not one, they cannot claim the VAT they paid you. The builder down the road quietly starts buying from the shop whose receipts he can claim on. You never get a letter about that. You just lose the customer.
A valid receipt says Fiscal Tax Invoice and carries a QR code the customer can check on ZIMRA's site.
Fiscalising, but still losing money
We also see shops that fiscalise and still lose money:
- declaring the cash the customer handed over instead of the sale total;
- leaving a VAT registered buyer's details off the invoice;
- voiding a sale instead of issuing a credit note;
- closing a stuck fiscal day at ZIMRA's portal while receipts are still waiting on the till. Those receipts can never be sent afterwards.
How Decima POS does it
Every sale is signed by the till's fiscal device and sent to ZIMRA by itself, with the verification code printed on the receipt. When the network goes down, Decima POS keeps selling and signing receipts; they wait in order and go to ZIMRA as soon as the line is back. Each fiscal day is closed and confirmed with ZIMRA, and Decima warns you before a portal close would strand receipts.
Your two minute check
- Does every receipt say Fiscal Tax Invoice?
- Does it carry a QR code that opens on ZIMRA's site?
- Is each fiscal day closed and confirmed?
- Is anything sitting waiting to be sent for days?
If any answer is no, talk to your fiscal device supplier this week, not at your next audit.
Sources
- All VAT registered operators must fiscalise (SI 104 of 2010 with SI 148 and SI 153 of 2016); US$25 per point of sale per day up to 181 days; the offence after 181 days; additional assessment. ZIMRA, Offences and penalties in fiscalisation (read 10 October 2026) https://www.zimra.co.zw/news/2183:offences-and-penalties-in-fiscalisation
- Input tax may be claimed only on a valid fiscal tax invoice printed from a fiscal device. ZIMRA, Fiscal tax invoice; VAT Act [Chapter 23:12] section 20(4) https://www.zimra.co.zw/news/2240-fiscal-tax-invoice
Rates, thresholds and dates change. Check the source, or ask your accountant, before relying on any of them.
