This lesson covers first-time taxpayer registration — the application through the SSP's Taxpayer Registration module by which a person who has never been registered obtains a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and enters ZIMRA's records. It completes the entry arc begun in earlier lessons: the SSP Registration lesson created the user account (a login for one human); this lesson creates the taxpayer (the person — individual, company, trust, partnership or non-resident — against whom returns, assessments and the Single Account are kept). The two must never be confused: an SSP user account confers no TIN, opens no revenue head and discharges no registration duty.

The legal engine is Part IIIA of the Income Tax Act [Chapter 23:06] ("Registration of Traders as Taxpayers"), inserted by the Finance (No. 2) Act 10 of 2022, gazetted 30 December 2022 — a genuinely modern regime. Section 25A defines a "registrable taxpayer" as a person (a) carrying on any trade or (b) who has registered a company, trust, pension fund or other juristic person — so the mere act of incorporating an entity makes a person registrable, before a dollar of revenue — while excluding presumptive taxpayers and Thirteenth Schedule employers except as prescribed. Section 25B sets the clocks: registration within 30 days of the Minister's prescribing notice, or of commencing trade or becoming qualified as a registrable taxpayer; thereafter 14 days to notify changes of address or cessation; non-residents must appoint a resident representative (Section 25B(6)–(8)). Section 25C prices default: a civil penalty of US$30 fixed plus US$30 per day for up to 90 days (maximum exposure US$2,730), reinforced since 1 January 2025 by the closure-notice machinery of Section 25C(3)–(4) (Finance (No. 2) Act 7/2024). Section 25D cuts both ways: liability to tax exists whether or not the person registers — registration is how ZIMRA sees a taxpayer, never what creates the tax debt.

The sharpest new instrument is Section 25E (inserted by the Finance (No. 2) Act 7/2024, w.e.f. 1 January 2025): persons carrying on any trade listed in the Thirty-Eighth Schedule — spare-parts dealers (US$9,000), car dealers (US$15,000), grocery and kitchenware merchandisers (US$9,000), fabric merchandisers (US$12,000), clothing merchandisers/boutiques (US$12,000), hardware operators (US$15,000) and lodges (US$5,000) — who remain unregistered on a QPD date become "deemed corporate income taxpayers" liable for the scheduled amount as if it were the provisional tax instalment, served with a notice that operates as a final and conclusive estimate and a final assessment, with no entitlement to any offset, credit or refund (Section 25E(5)). The only mercy is Section 25E(6): paying the full deemed amount by the next QPD date averts closure and other penalties. Registration, in short, is now dramatically cheaper than the alternative.

Procedurally, the applicant signs into the SSP (User mode), opens the Taxpayer Registration module and submits the registration application for the correct taxpayer type — the local SSP guide lists individuals; companies and other juristic persons; trusts and partnerships; and non-residents with Zimbabwean obligations — selecting revenue heads and supplying identity, address, trade and banking particulars. ZIMRA processes the application and issues the TIN, which replaces the legacy Business Partner Number and is cited on every return and certificate thereafter. Because the SSP online help was unreachable when this lesson was prepared, screen-level specifics carry verification flags; the statutory clocks, definitions and penalty figures are confirmed verbatim from the source Acts.

The registration arc of this course has three layers, and this lesson supplies the middle one:

1. SSP user registration (Sign Up) — one human gets one login. No TIN, no obligations, no taxpayer. (SSP Registration lesson.)
2. Taxpayer registration — this lesson — a person in the Section 2 sense (individual, company, trust, estate; recall from the Persons Liable lesson that a partnership is transparent but registrable for administration) is entered in ZIMRA's records and issued a TIN.
3. Revenue-head management — tax types are added to the TIN as obligations arise (the VAT Registration Application lesson) and removed as they end (the deregistration lessons).

"First-time" matters because a TIN is issued once per person: a returning taxpayer whose record was closed re-registers afresh, but a living record is never duplicated — the cure for a forgotten TIN is recovery through ZIMRA, not a second registration (a duplicate-TIN application is a classic rejection-and-delay scenario). The TIN replaced the legacy Business Partner Number (BPN) when TaRMS replaced the old e-services platform, as established in the Introduction lesson.

Why the topic deserves care: registration is where the tax system's two great clocks start. The compliance clock — once a head is registered, TaRMS expects a return for every period, and the expected-returns engine drives the ITF 263 check and the Section 80 machinery. And the penalty clock — Part IIIA'Section 30-day window is short, the Section 25C meter runs daily, and since 1 January 2025 the Section 25E deemed-tax regime makes non-registration in the scheduled retail trades a five-figure-per-quarter mistake. ZIMRA's enforcement focus on unregistered traders (street-level retail, car sales, hardware) is precisely what Sections 25E and the Thirty-Eighth Schedule were enacted to industrialise.

B.1 Who must register — Section 25A's "registrable taxpayer"

Part IIIA — "Registration of Traders as Taxpayers" — was inserted by the Finance (No. 2) Act 10 of 2022 (gazetted 30 December 2022). Section 25A defines the key term:

"registrable taxpayer" means a person — (a) carrying on any trade; or (b) who has registered a company, trust, pension fund or other juristic person; but does not include — (i) a presumptive taxpayer, except such class of presumptive taxpayer as may be specified in a notice prescribed under Section 25B; or (ii) an employer registered as such for the purpose of the Thirteenth Schedule, except such class of employer as may be specified in a notice prescribed under Section 25B.

Each limb rewards attention. Limb (a) hangs on "trade" — the deliberately wide Section 2 definition met in the Foundations lesson — so every sole trader, professional in practice, landlord trading in lettings and commission agent is caught. Limb (b) is the surprise: a person "who has registered" a juristic person is a registrable taxpayer — the act of incorporation triggers registrability, before trading begins and regardless of revenue, which is why a newly incorporated shelf company should be registered with ZIMRA immediately rather than "once business starts." The exclusions prevent double machinery: presumptive taxpayers (taxed under the presumptive regime) and pure Thirteenth Schedule employers (whose PAYE registration runs on the Schedule's own paragraph 2 — 14 days from becoming an employer, as confirmed in the Tax Type Deregistration lesson) are outside Part IIIA unless the Minister's notice pulls a class of them in.

A pure salaried employee is not within Section 25A at all — employees enter the system through their employer's Employee Management module (a later lesson) and the FDS/final-deduction machinery, though nothing prevents an individual registering (and an individual with trade income alongside employment must).

B.2 When — Section 25B's clocks

Section 25B(1) empowers the Minister to prescribe by statutory-instrument notice the categories of trading persons who must register. Section 25B(2) gives persons already within a prescribed category 30 days from the prescribing notice to apply. Section 25B(3) covers the ongoing case — a person who thereafter (a) commences trade as a registrable taxpayer or (b) becomes qualified as a registrable taxpayer must apply no later than 30 days after so commencing or becoming qualified, "in such form as may be prescribed" (under TaRMS, the SSP application). Note the two distinct triggers in (3): commencing trade (the shop opens) and becoming qualified (e.g. the company is incorporated — limb (b) of the definition).

Section 25B(4) then maintains the record: 14 days to notify a change of address or cessation (the exit side, covered in the deregistration lessons). Section 25B(5) lets the Commissioner publicise the duties. Sections 25B(6)–(8) handle non-residents: a non-resident registrable taxpayer shall appoint a resident representative to secure registration and act as agent for all Part IIIA purposes, must notify the Commissioner-General in writing of the appointment, and — on default after written demand — the Commissioner-General may appoint a representative himself and, additionally or alternatively, cause any work permit held by the taxpayer or its directors or employees to be cancelled through the Chief Immigration Officer. The work-permit lever is the regime's distinctive cross-border tooth.

B.3 The price of lateness — Section 25C

Failure timeously to comply with Section 25B(2), (3), (4), (6) or (7) is a civil infringement: a fixed penalty of US$30 (or its Zimbabwe-dollar equivalent) on the day the civil penalty order is served, plus a cumulative US$30 per day (beginning the day after service) for up to 90 days while the fixed penalty or any outstanding amount remains unpaid — a maximum of US$30 + 90 × US$30 = US$2,730. Since 1 January 2025 (Finance (No. 2) Act 7/2024), Section 25C(3) adds the closure notice: where the person fails to pay the penalty within 30 days of service (unless he otherwise complies, in which case ZIMRA withdraws the notice and sues for the money), or pays but persists in non-compliance, the Commissioner-General shall order the business closed until compliance; defying a closure notice is an offence under Section 25C(4) (fine up to level fourteen, imprisonment up to twelve months, or both).

B.4 Registration is evidentiary, not constitutive — Section 25D

Section 25D ("Savings for noncompliance with this Part"): "The obligations and liabilities of a person under this Act are not affected by his or her failure to register as a registrable person under this Part or his or her ceasing to be so registered." Read from the entry side, this kills the most common street-level misconception: not registering does not mean not owing. The unregistered trader's income tax accrues exactly as the registered trader's does — Sections 6, 8 and the funnel from the Foundations lesson never mention registration — and the Commissioner's estimated-assessment (Section 45), additional-tax (Section 46) and six-year/unlimited reassessment (Section 47) powers from the Administration lesson reach the unregistered with full force. Registration determines visibility and process, not liability.

B.5 The deemed corporate income taxpayer — Section 25E and the Thirty-Eighth Schedule

Inserted by the Finance (No. 2) Act 7/2024, w.e.f. 1 January 2025, Section 25E is the regime's enforcement masterstroke against the informal retail economy:

• Section 25E(1): the Minister is deemed to have prescribed (for Section 25B purposes) the persons carrying on the trades listed in the first column of the Thirty-Eighth Schedule — no statutory instrument needed; the Schedule is the notice.
• Section 25E(2): if such a person, on a QPD date (Section 72 — 25 March, 25 June, 25 September, 20 December, per the Corporate Income Tax lesson), has neither registered nor applied for registration, the person is a "deemed corporate income taxpayer" liable to pay provisional tax in the second-column amount as if it were the instalment due that day.
• Section 25E(3)–(4): the Commissioner serves written notice of the amount, which operates as if it were a final and conclusive estimate of the quarterly provisional tax under Section 72(4) — and the Act applies to the notice as if it were a final assessment. There is no re-arguing the figure by reference to actual results.
• Section 25E(5): the deemed taxpayer is not entitled to the benefit of any offset, credit or refund under Section 72 or any other provision — even if, after registering, he pays proper provisional tax. The deemed amounts are a dead loss, never a prepayment.
• Section 25E(6): the safe harbour — a deemed taxpayer who pays the full deemed amount no later than the next QPD date is spared business closure and other civil or criminal penalty under the Part.

The Thirty-Eighth Schedule (confirmed verbatim from the source Act):

An unregistered hardware operator therefore faces US$15,000 per quarter — US$60,000 per year — of unrecoverable deemed tax, against which timely registration (free) and ordinary self-assessed QPDs on actual results would almost always be a fraction. The design intent is transparent: make registration the cheap option.

B.6 The companion clocks on other heads

First-time registration in TaRMS is also where the other heads' entry rules from earlier lessons converge, selected on (or added after) the same application: VAT under Section 23 of the VAT Act [Chapter 23:12] — compulsory registration within 30 days of meeting the US$25,000 retrospective or forward test, with backdating for defaulters (VAT Registration Application lesson); PAYE under Thirteenth Schedule paragraph 2(1) — application within 14 days of becoming an employer; and the withholding heads as the relevant payment obligations arise. Once registered, the declaration machinery of the Administration lesson engages: Section 37 returns, Section 37A self-assessment (ITF 12C, four months after year-end; the return is the assessment), Section 72 QPDs, Section 37B six-year records, and FA Section 4B remittance discipline.

B.7 Old law vs new law

Before TaRMS (and before Part IIIA), registration was a form-driven branch process: the REV 1 registration form, a Business Partner Number, and no dedicated statutory registration code in the Income Tax Act — ZIMRA relied on the return-filing provisions and Section 80's clearance pressure. The sequence of change: Finance (No. 2) Act 10/2022 inserted Part IIIA (the registrable-taxpayer concept and the 30-day/14-day clocks); TaRMS went live as the administrative platform with the TIN replacing the BPN; and the Finance (No. 2) Act 7/2024 (w.e.f. 1 January 2025) added the closure-notice teeth (Section 25C(3)–(4)) and the deemed-corporate-income-taxpayer regime (Section 25E + 38th Schedule). The practical impact of each step: 2022 made registration a free-standing statutory duty with its own penalty; 2025 made non-registration in the scheduled trades ruinously expensive.

C.1 What the application creates

Registration creates the taxpayer record: the TIN; the taxpayer type (individual / company / trust / partnership / non-resident); the identity particulars (verified against the National Registration ID, passport or certificate of incorporation); the addresses and contact details (which feed every Section 51 notice and ITF 263 cross-check — Taxpayer Profile lesson); the principal trade description; the banking details (the fraud-sensitive cluster); the revenue heads with their start dates; and the Single Account ledger, opened in both currencies. Everything later in this course — returns, payments, certificates, refunds, audits — executes against this record.

C.2 The four applicant branches

The local SSP guide confirms the Taxpayer Registration module covers four registrant classes, each with its own evidential spine:

• Individuals (sole traders, professionals, landlords; also employees who need a TIN): identified by National Registration ID (residents) or passport; the individual user registers himself as a taxpayer — the same person wearing the second hat, the "shift" mechanic from the Introduction lesson.
• Companies and other juristic persons: identified by incorporation documents under the Companies and Other Business Entities Act [Chapter 24:31]; recall that companies are taxpayers, never SSP users — a director or authorised officer applies through his own user account, and the public officer obligations (Section 61, Administration lesson) attach to the registered record.
• Trusts and partnerships: the trust deed or partnership agreement grounds the record; the partnership registers for administration although transparent for liability (Section 10(2), Persons Liable lesson) — the partners' joint return (Section 37(15)) and individual assessments carry the tax.
• Non-residents with Zimbabwean obligations: registered through (and with) the resident representative demanded by Section 25B(6)–(8) — and recall from the Residence lesson the deemed-source and PE rules (Sections 12, 19A–19B) and the Section 12A digital-tax representative (Section 12A(5)) that create those obligations.

C.3 Choosing revenue heads at registration

The application is also where the taxpayer's initial tax types are selected, each governed by its own statute: income tax (virtually always); PAYE if staff exist or are imminent (13th Sch para 2(1) — 14 days); VAT if a Section 23 test is already met (30 days, with the completeness-deeming trap from the VAT Registration Application lesson: an incomplete application is deemed no application, and the clock keeps running); withholding heads as applicable. Two disciplines: do not over-register (every registered head generates expected returns — a VAT head registered "just in case" by a below-threshold trader creates nil-return obligations and ITF 263 exposure for nothing), and do not under-register (a missed compulsory head is exactly the backdating/penalty scenario the VAT lesson worked through).

C.4 The procedural walkthrough

The SSP online help was unreachable when this lesson was prepared; the walkthrough below follows the local SSP guide's module architecture, with screen-level specifics flagged.

Step 1 — Prerequisite: an SSP user account. Sign Up, verification, password creation — the SSP Registration lesson in full. The 30-day Section 25B clock does not pause while a Sign-Up verification straggles, which is why that lesson's worked example urged registering the user account immediately upon (or before) commencing trade.

Step 2 — Open Taxpayer Registration (User mode). This module is available before any taxpayer exists — it is the bridge between modes: the user applies, and on approval gains a taxpayer to shift into.

Step 3 — Select the taxpayer type (individual / company or juristic person / trust or partnership / non-resident) and complete the particulars: identity (transcribed exactly from the source document — the identity-mismatch failure mode from the SSP Registration lesson applies equally here), addresses, contact details, principal trade, banking details, and the initial revenue heads with their liability start dates.

Step 4 — Attach the evidence: National ID/passport (individuals); certificate of incorporation, CR-series particulars and directors'/public-officer identification (companies); trust deed / partnership agreement; proof of address; bank confirmation; and for non-residents the resident representative's appointment.

Step 5 — Submit and track. Submission within the 30-day window discharges Section 25B; a draft discharges nothing — and for a Thirty-Eighth-Schedule trader, note that Section 25E(2) is averted by having "registered or applied" by the QPD date: a submitted application protects; a draft does not. ZIMRA verifies (the data-verification step met at Sign Up, now against the taxpayer's documents) and may query; answer promptly.

Step 6 — Receive the TIN; shift; configure. The outcome arrives via Notifications. The user can now shift into the taxpayer, and should immediately: confirm the Taxpayer Profile's contents (Taxpayer Information lesson); set up Assignee Management so at least two users hold submission rights (the deadline-day drill from the Login lesson); diarise the head-by-head compliance calendar (P2 by the 10th, VAT 7 by the 25th, QPDs 25 Mar/25 Jun/25 Sep/20 Dec, ITF 12C four months after year-end, ITF 263 renewal from October); and apply for the ITF 263 once the first obligations are current.

C.5 Registration and liability: the two-way independence

Hold the two propositions together. Non-registration does not avoid tax (Section 25D; Sections 6/8 charge regardless; Section 45 estimated assessments; Section 25E deemed tax for the scheduled trades). And registration does not create tax — a registered taxpayer with no income owes nothing but returns (nil returns are still returns; the dormant-company proviso to Section 37 noted in the Administration lesson is the narrow exception). Registration is the system's eyesight. The trader's real choice is never "tax or no tax"; it is "assessed on my actual results, with credits and clearances — or estimated, deemed, penalised and closed."

D.1 Individual: the side-hustler who becomes a trader

Scenario. Rudo, a Harare accountant (employee, PAYE handled by her employer), starts selling imported fabrics online. She makes her first sales on 1 July 2026.

On 1 July she commences trade and becomes a registrable taxpayer (Section 25A(a)); Section 25B(3)(a) gives her until 31 July 2026 to apply. She creates her SSP account, applies under Taxpayer Registration as an individual, selects the income tax head (her turnover is far below the VAT threshold, and she employs nobody), and receives her TIN. Her employment income continues under her employer's PAYE; her trade income flows into her own ITF 12C and QPDs.

The counterfactual is no longer merely the Section 25C meter. A fabric merchandiser is a Thirty-Eighth Schedule category (US$12,000/quarter). If Rudo trades unregistered past the 25 September 2026 QPD, Section 25E(2) makes her a deemed corporate income taxpayer: ZIMRA may serve notice of US$12,000 operating as a final assessment, with no offset, credit or refund ever (Section 25E(5)) — on a side-hustle whose actual annual profit might be US$4,000. Her only mitigation is the Section 25E(6) safe harbour (pay in full by 20 December to avert closure and further penalty) — and registering immediately so no further QPD date catches her. Thirty days of paperwork versus US$12,000 of dead loss is the whole lesson in one line.

D.2 SME: the newly incorporated company

Scenario. Three partners incorporate Mutare Hardware Solutions (Pvt) Ltd on 10 February 2026; the shop will open in May.

Limb (b) of Section 25A bites at incorporation: the persons who registered the company are registrable, and the company should be registered with ZIMRA by 12 March 2026 (30 days), not "when we open." The application: taxpayer type company, incorporation documents attached, public-officer designation ready (Section 61 — appointment within the section's window through the prescribed process), income tax head from the start, PAYE within 14 days of the first employee (13th Sch para 2(1)), VAT monitored against the US$25,000 forward/retrospective tests once sales begin. As a hardware operator (US$15,000/quarter), the company is squarely in the Thirty-Eighth Schedule: registering before the 25 March QPD is worth US$15,000 of avoided deemed tax even though the shop has not sold a screw. Post-TIN configuration: two submission-capable assignees, banking details verified, compliance calendar diarised, and the first (possibly nil) returns filed on time so the ITF 263 can issue before suppliers' paying officers start asking — recall from the Certificates lesson that without it, contract payers withhold 30% under Section 80.

The worked Section 25C comparison, for completeness: had the company simply ignored registration and been served a civil penalty order on 1 June, the meter runs US$30 + US$30/day; at the 90-day cap the exposure is US$2,730 — and since 1 January 2025, non-payment for 30 days converts into a closure notice. The Section 25C figure is now the small number in the room; Section 25E is the large one.

D.3 Large corporate / non-resident: entering Zimbabwe

Scenario. A South African engineering group wins a two-year Zimbabwean construction contract, creating a Section 19B permanent establishment (building site — Residence lesson) for its subsidiary, which has no Zimbabwean presence yet.

The non-resident wrinkles: Section 25B(6) requires appointment of a resident representative to secure registration and act as agent for all Part IIIA purposes, with written notice of the appointment to the Commissioner-General (Section 25B(7)); default after written demand exposes the group to a Commissioner-appointed representative and work-permit cancellation for the taxpayer's directors and employees (Section 25B(8)) — an existential lever for an expatriate-staffed site. The registration application runs through the representative's SSP access: taxpayer type non-resident, the PE's particulars, income tax head (Section 19A attribution), PAYE for local and expatriate staff (13th Sch — and recall the Schedule's own paragraph 2(4)–(6) resident-representative mirror for non-resident employers), and VAT once the Section 23 tests are met — remembering from the VAT lesson the non-resident deeming: the application is deemed not made until a representative registered operator (Section 47(1)(f) designation) and a Zimbabwean bank account are in place. Without the TIN and ITF 263, every contract payment from the Zimbabwean principal suffers the Section 80 30% withholding — on a two-year contract, a financing cost that dwarfs every registration formality. Group tax functions treat Zimbabwean registration as a condition precedent to mobilisation, not an arrival task.

Stated honestly: Part IIIA is too young to have produced reported case law — inserted at the end of 2022, with its sharpest provisions effective only from 2025, no Zimbabwean decision on Sections 25A–25E appears in the annotated source Acts. The registration disputes the courts have decided arose on the VAT side, where registration has had statutory teeth since 2003, and they were integrated in the VAT Registration Application lesson: Afritrade International Ltd v ZIMRA 21-SC-003 (the Supreme Court's modern statement on liability-driven registration and effective dates — also annotated at the Section 53(a) representative-taxpayer definition); S.T (Pvt) Ltd v ZIMRA 16-HH-696 and Ice Class Properties (Pvt) Ltd v NMB Bank and ZIMRA 19-HH-028 (forward test; retrospective registration); GTO Association v Commissioner-General 19-HH-464 (defaulter registration). Their transferable principle for Part IIIA is structural: liability and registration are independent, and the registration machinery's dates and deemings are enforced as written — precisely the architecture Sections 25D and 25E now replicate for income tax. Expect the first Section 25E litigation to test the "final and conclusive" notice against constitutional fair-administrative-justice standards; until a court speaks, the statutory text governs and this lesson asserts nothing beyond it.

1. Confusing the SSP account with taxpayer registration. The Sign-Up confirmation email is not a TIN. Until the Taxpayer Registration application is submitted and approved, no registration duty is discharged and the Section 25B/Section 25E clocks keep running. The SSP Registration lesson's mantra: user ≠ taxpayer.
2. Waiting for revenue before registering. Both statutory triggers fire earlier: commencing trade (not first profit) under Section 25B(3)(a), and incorporation itself under Section 25A(b). The shelf company "not yet trading" is already registrable.
3. Ignoring the Thirty-Eighth Schedule. A trader in the scheduled categories who treats registration as optional faces US$5,000–US$15,000 per quarter of deemed tax that is never creditable or refundable (Section 25E(5)), under a notice that operates as a final assessment. The safe harbour (Section 25E(6)) only averts closure and penalties — it does not return the money. Check the Schedule first when advising any retail or hospitality start-up.
4. Letting the application sit in Drafts. Section 25E(2) spares those who have "registered or applied" by the QPD date; Section 25B requires application within 30 days. A draft is neither. Submit, then perfect under query if needed.
5. Believing non-registration avoids tax — or that registration creates it. Section 25D severs liability from registration in both directions. The unregistered owe tax plus penalties minus credits; the registered-but-dormant owe returns, not money.
6. Wrong taxpayer type or sloppy identity transcription. Registering the director instead of the company (or vice versa), or mismatching the name against the ID/incorporation certificate, produces rejection loops that eat the 30-day window. Transcribe documents exactly; pick the branch deliberately.
7. Over-registering heads "to be safe." Every registered head generates expected returns forever until deregistered (previous lessons); an idle head is an ITF 263 blocker in waiting. Register what the law requires, monitor the rest.
8. Non-residents mobilising before registering. No resident representative, no TIN, no ITF 263 → Section 25B(8) work-permit exposure plus the Section 80 30% bleed on every contract receipt. Registration is a condition precedent to entry, not an afterthought.
9. Stopping at the TIN. Registration without configuration — no second assignee, no calendar, no ITF 263 application, unverified banking details — recreates every failure drill from the earlier lessons. The TIN is the start line.

Work through the questions one at a time. Choose an answer and it is graded immediately, with an explanation and the provision it comes from. Your progress is saved, so you can stop and resume.

• First-time registration creates the taxpayer: the TIN (successor to the BPN), the taxpayer type, the profile, the revenue heads and the Single Account — the record every later module executes against. SSP user account first; taxpayer application second; configuration third.
• "Registrable taxpayer" (Section 25A, inserted FA (No. 2) 10/2022) = carrying on any trade or having registered a juristic person (incorporation alone triggers it); presumptive taxpayers and 13th-Schedule employers excluded except as prescribed.
• The clocks (Section 25B): 30 days from prescription, commencement of trade or becoming qualified; 14 days for changes/cessation; non-residents must appoint and notify a resident representative (Section 25B(6)–(8) — with the work-permit cancellation lever).
• The price of default: Section 25C civil penalty US$30 + US$30/day ≤90 days (max US$2,730) plus, from 1 Jan 2025, the closure notice (Section 25C(3)–(4)). For Thirty-Eighth Schedule trades, Section 25E deems US$5,000–US$15,000 per quarter of provisional tax by notice operating as a final assessment, with no offset, credit or refund ever (Section 25E(5)); the Section 25E(6) safe harbour averts closure only.
• Registration ≠ liability (Section 25D): not registering avoids nothing (Sections 6/8/45/46/47 apply regardless); registering creates returns, not tax — nil and loss returns are still returns, and assessed losses are worth filing for.
• Head selection is statute-by-statute: income tax (Part IIIA), PAYE (13th Sch, 14 days), VAT (Section 23, 30 days, US$25,000 tests, completeness deeming), WHT heads as events arise — register what the law requires, no more, no less.
• A submitted application protects; a draft discharges nothing — for Section 25B, for Section 25E, and (with the added completeness deeming) for VAT Section 23(2).
• After the TIN: two submission-capable users, verified banking details, the compliance calendar diarised, first returns filed, ITF 263 obtained — the start line, not the finish.
• Screen-level SSP specifics remain to be verified against the SSP help; the definitions, clocks, penalty figures and 38th-Schedule amounts above are confirmed verbatim from the source Acts.

The entry clocks at a glance

The Thirty-Eighth Schedule (Section 25E) — deemed quarterly provisional tax

Notice = final and conclusive estimate / final assessment (Section 25E(3)–(4)); never creditable or refundable (Section 25E(5)); full payment by the next QPD averts closure and other penalties (Section 25E(6)).

Decision and process flow

flowchart TD
 A[Person starts trading OR registers a company/trust/juristic person] --> B{Registrable taxpayer? Section 25A}
 B -->|Presumptive taxpayer or pure 13th-Sch employer, not prescribed| C[Outside Part IIIA - own regime applies]
 B -->|Yes| D[Create SSP user account if none - Sign Up]
 D --> E[Taxpayer Registration module: select type - individual / company / trust-partnership / non-resident]
 E --> F[Complete particulars + attach proof; select revenue heads: income tax, PAYE 14d, VAT 30d if Section 23 met]
 F --> G{Submitted within 30 days of trigger? Section 25B}
 G -->|No| H[Section 25C: US$30 + US$30/day max 90d; closure notice Section 25C-3]
 G -->|No, and 38th-Sch trade| I[Section 25E on each QPD date: deemed final assessment US$5k-15k, no credit ever]
 I --> J[Safe harbour Section 25E-6: pay in full by next QPD; register NOW]
 G -->|Yes| K[ZIMRA verifies -> TIN issued via Notifications]
 K --> L[Shift to taxpayer: confirm profile, 2+ assignees, calendar, first returns, ITF 263]
 H --> E
 J --> E

Statutes & sections

• Income Tax Act [Chapter 23:06] — Part IIIA (inserted Finance (No. 2) Act 10/2022, gazetted 30 Dec 2022): Section 25A "registrable taxpayer" (trade limb; juristic-person-registration limb; presumptive/employer exclusions); Section 25B prescription and registration (30-day clocks subss (2)–(3); 14-day change notice subs (4); non-resident representative subss (6)–(8) incl. work-permit lever); Section 25C civil penalty (US$30 + US$30/day ≤90 days) and closure notice (subss (3)–(4), Finance (No. 2) Act 7/2024 w.e.f. 1 Jan 2025); Section 25D savings — liability independent of registration; Section 25E deemed corporate income taxpayer (deemed prescription; QPD-date deeming; notice as final and conclusive estimate/final assessment; no offset/credit/refund; next-QPD safe harbour) + Thirty-Eighth Schedule (categories and amounts, confirmed verbatim); Sections 6, 8 charge; Sections 37/37A returns and self-assessment; Section 37B records; Sections 45–47 assessment powers; Section 61 public officer; Section 72 QPDs; Section 80/80A clearance levers; Thirteenth Schedule para 2(1) employer registration (14 days).
• VAT Act [Chapter 23:12] — Section 23 registration (US$25,000 threshold FA 13/2023; 30-day application; completeness deeming; non-resident prerequisites; backdating Section 23(4)(b)) — cross-referenced from the VAT Registration Application lesson.
• Finance (No. 2) Act 10/2022 — insertion of Part IIIA. Finance (No. 2) Act 7/2024 — Section 25C(3)–(4) closure notices and Section 25E/38th Schedule, w.e.f. 1 January 2025.

Case law

• Afritrade International Ltd v ZIMRA 21-SC-003; S.T (Pvt) Ltd v ZIMRA 16-HH-696; Ice Class Properties (Pvt) Ltd v NMB Bank and ZIMRA 19-HH-028; GTO Association v Commissioner-General, ZIMRA 19-HH-464 — VAT-side registration authorities (liability-driven registration; effective dates; backdating), persuasive context for Part IIIA's architecture. [Annotation-level; VERIFY full holdings]
• No reported Zimbabwean authority yet on Part IIIA (Sections 25A–25E) itself; stated honestly rather than padded.

ZIMRA guidance

• ZIMRA Self-Service Portal online help, https://mytaxselfservice.zimra.co.zw/help/ssp/en/default.htm — unreachable at the time of writing; screen-level specifics flagged for verification.
• Comprehensive Guide to the ZIMRA Self-Service Portal (local SSP External Guide) — Taxpayer Registration module (registrant classes; TIN replaces BPN); module architecture and sitemap.
• Zimbabwe Tax Compliance Calendar; Comprehensive Guide to the ITF 12C / Form P2 — post-registration filing rhythm.

DTAs / international

• None cited in the body.