By Chenayi Mack-Maponga

In its continued efforts to positively affect the society, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) Charity Trust held its annual Charity Ball on December 5, 2019 at The Rainbow Towers Hotel.

The Ball which is a meant to fundraise towards Charity was held under the theme “ZIMRA: Empowering communities through positive partnerships.”

Introducing the guest of honour, Commissioner General of ZIMRA Ms Faith Mazani said that this year’s edition was unique and special owing to selfless giving exhibited by corporate partnerships and the work of called individuals such as the guest of honour at the function.

“As I introduce the guest of honour at this function, I would like to let you know that we have a special woman among us who has given her life to advance the interests of less advantaged people. It is because of you our valued partners that we have managed to support the work and ministry that she and many others do to take care of the less privileged.  I am indebted to all of you for lending a hand to the needy,” said Ms Mazani.”

Giving her keynote address, Administrator of Bhumudzo Old Peoples Home, Major Christia Nyaruberu of the Salvation Army Church said this year’s theme was well suited to ZIMRA’s everyday business.

“I know not many of us will readily agree that we are in partnership with the taxman but we are. Despite sometimes being in an uneasy marriage of convenience with the taxman the reality is every day we partner ZIMRA through our day-to-day transactions to ensure that ZIMRA provides funding for much needed national and social projects.

In fact ZIMRA already recognises the need for strong partnerships and has as part of its four strategic pillars Partnerships as a standalone strategic thrust. Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to thank you for continuing to support the welfare of the socially disadvantaged citizens especially when for most of you your core business is to make a profit. I am here representing Bhumudzo Old peoples Home and the Home and the work it does is living testimony of the importance of your support.

Bhumudzo is one the direct beneficiaries of this ZIMRA Charity Ball. In 2018, Commissioner General, Ms Faith Mazani, and her team officially handed over a Green House to Bhumudzo Old People’s home over and above similar support over the years.

The Annual Charity Ball has been a tradition at ZIMRA, it has been carried out religiously each year. Every year the Authority holds the Charity Ball and invites organisations to participate by purchasing a dinner table.

List of 2019 ZIMRA Charity Partners:

Platinum sponsor

Old Mutual

Diamond sponsorship

CBZ

Gold Sponsorship

Schweppes

First Mutual

Pacific

Zimplats

Standard Sponsorship

Freight World

PSMAS

Seedco

Airforce of Zimbabwe

Nyaradzo

FBC

Kantor and Immerman

Econet Wireless

Deloitte

Dairibord

Telecel

Delta Corporation

Zimpapers

Netone

Mimosa Mine

ZB Bank

Waverly Blankets

NMB

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority would like to inform all valued clients and stakeholders that with effect from 1 November 2010, all imported motor vehicles in transit shall not be driven on any road in Zimbabwe.

This follows the amendment of Section 234 of the Customs and Excise Act, which states that motor vehicles in transit  must be transported on a long-haul motor vehicle carrier with effect from 1 November, 2010.

Please abide by this new legislation for safe and smooth trade and travel.

By Chenayi Mack-Maponga and Mavis Njera

 It was a joyful moment when the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) graced Alpha Cottages Home and Mucheke Old People’s Homes in Masvingo on August 14 to donate an assortment of groceries in once again another good Samaritan’s act of fulfilling needs to Homes around the country. The Authority made a donation of mealie meal, cooking oil, detergents, beans, washing soap, sugar among other food items.

This year the ZIMRA Charity Trust is reaching out and taking care of needy communities through grocery donations. More donations will be done at other selected Homes.

The Commissioner General hereby notifies its valued clients to access their Tax Clearances (ITF263) for the year 2020 as from the following dates:

1. Large Clients and All Medium           - From the 21^th of November 2019
2. All Small Clients - From the 1^st of December 2019

Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) wishes to advise its valued compliant clients to access their Tax Clearances online. For further inquiries, please contact or the visit your nearest ZIMRA offices for more information.

Telephone:     

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All VAT Registered Operators are required to comply with fiscalisation requirement, to register and interface with FDMS for the purposes of recording taxable sales transactions.

To comply with this requirement, taxpayers have two options available as follows:

1. Upgrade existing Fiscal Devices and ensure compatibility with FDMS with the assistance of Approved Suppliers of the fiscal device. or
2. Consider direct interface with FDMS through Virtual Fiscal Devices (API) - software base fiscalisation solution.

Choice of the options depends on the number of point of sales operated by the taxpayer, nature of operations or accounting systems of the taxpayer or capacity to develop APIs for direct interface.

Below are the steps to take for successful on boarding:

Option A: On Boarding Process for Hardware Based Fiscal Devices

• After procuring the Fiscal Device from an Approved Supplier, the Approved Suppliers will ensure that the device is tested on the FDMS platform for compatibility with both FDMS and taxpayer’s point of sale systems. The test shall be conducted on the FDMS test environment with dummy data.
• The test process will generate sample output for ZIMRA approval (Fiscal Tax Invoice, Credit/Debit Note).
• Close fiscal day, and check if there are no errors encountered
• Submit the sample documents (Fiscal Tax Invoice, Credit/Debit Note) to ZIMRA for approval.
• Upon approval by ZIMRA, through approved supplier, the fiscal device is registered in ZIMRA FDMS live platform and then transactions can be done using the upgraded fiscal device

Option B: On boarding process  for Virtual Fiscalisation

• Access and download the API document on the following link : https://www.zimra.co.zw/downloads/category/9-domestic-taxes?download=3807:fiscalisation-apidocumentation   
• Identify a software developer of your choice or internal IT personnel for assistance with API software development.
• Develop your API for interface with the FDMS and configure your fiscal device
• Write an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for registration in the test environment, details of API end-points.
• Conduct your API tests on the provided FDMS test platform
• Generate sample invoices, credit notes and debit notes in the test environment for sending to ZIMRA for validation and approval
• Close fiscal day, and check if there are no errors encountered
• Submit the sample documents (Fiscal Tax Invoice, Credit/Debit Note) to ZIMRA for approval.
• Once invoices are approved, registration is done in the FDMS live environment, and start transacting.

How to see if my fiscal device is compatible with the ZIMRA FDMS System

• The Fiscal Tax Invoice, Debit/Credit Note printed by the fiscal device will be imprinted with verifiable QR Code.
• QR code on the printed Fiscal Tax Invoice, Debit/Credit Note, if is scanned or validated on the ZIMRA FDMS Portal https://fdms.zimra.co.zw it will indicate that the “Invoice is Valid”
• Fiscal day sessions can be closed and opened without any error or challenges

My Taxes, My Duties: Building my Zimbabwe

Disclaimer

This article was compiled by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) for information purposes only. ZIMRA shall not accept responsibility for loss or damage arising from use of material in this article and no liability will attach to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. 

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) wishes to advise its valued clients that the following motor vehicles have remained uncleared at Beitbridge Border Post for more than the statutory 60 days detention period and are now due for disposal by rummage sale.

Please Note: If the vehicles remain uncleared by 26^th November 2011, they will be disposed off through a public auction (rummage sale) without any further notice.

Commissioner General                                                                                                 Public Notice No. 20 of 2011 

What is TaRMS?

Tax and Revenue Management System (TaRMS) is a new tax administration system that ZIMRA has introduced to replace the previous system. Tax and Revenue Management System (TaRMS) is for Domestic Taxes.

 What are the benefits of TaRMS in terms of payments?

• TaRMS system eliminates the challenges that were encountered during payments processing in the previous system e.g. unallocated deposits
• The Taxpayer transfers funds to the ZIMRA single account using his/her selected bank for tax purposes The Taxpayer submits the tax returns and the system handles payments allocations, assessments and refunds.

How does the Single Account Concept work in TaRMS?

• ZIMRA have opened bank accounts in 15  banks in the country except for those that failed to meet ZIMRA requirements. These bank accounts are named ZIMRA Commissioner General Single Account. In each bank, there are two ZIMRA Single Bank Accounts, one for ZWL and another for USD. Any other foreign currencies are converted by the bank to USD at point of payment.
• From the list of banks with ZIMRA Single Accounts that ZIMRA availed, the Taxpayer is expected to choose ONE BANK for Tax payment purposes. (i.e. for both ZWL and USD payments). Taxpayers cannot have a USD single account in one bank and a ZWL Single Account in another bank; they both have to be within the same bank for ease of administration.
• The TaRMS system automatically keeps a balance of the Taxpayer’s funds in the ZIMRA Single Account in that bank. This record is kept in TaRMS in what is called the Taxpayer’s Single Account. The taxpayer can deposit or transfer money for tax payments only to the ZIMRA Single Account within their chosen and registered bank.
• A taxpayer cannot use a bank that is not linked to ZIMRA Single Bank Account for tax payments purposes.
• The Taxpayer’s bank account used to fund the Zimra Single account can be used for any other transactions as before. It is not restricted to the ZIMRA payments.
• The taxpayer is allowed to change from one bank to another. To change the taxpayer’s Bank account for tax purposes, the taxpayer should send an application to ZIMRA and reset the account in the current bank, then choose the other bank with the support of a ZIMRA Single Account. The balance in the Taxpayer’s Single Account should be nil before effecting these changes.
• Taxpayer has an opportunity to transfer money back from the single account to own bank account. For this transaction, the taxpayer is required to fill an online application form for the transfer. The application is automatically approved after checking set parameters. The amounts from the single account are automatically transferred to the taxpayer’s bank account within one working day.

How is the Taxpayer going to make payments in ZIMRA Single Account?

Payments into the ZIMRA Single Bank Account can be done by way of Cash deposits and internal transfers directly through Taxpayer’s bank, the bank will validate the payment before posting the transaction. The validation parameter is the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and Taxpayer’s Name; hence, it is of paramount importance that the TIN is captured correctly all the time.

Are taxpayers able to make Customs payments using Single Bank Accounts?

The ZIMRA Single Bank Accounts are specifically for Domestic Taxes payments. Customs & Excise duty payments use the old ZIMRA bank accounts. In both Domestic Taxes and Customs payments, the TIN is required