A withholding tax (WHT) collects tax at source: the payer deducts tax from a payment, accounts for it on the recipient's behalf, and remits it to ZIMRA. This lesson covers the non-resident withholding taxes — those that bite when the recipient is not ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe — and the treaty-reduced rates that a qualifying non-resident can claim under a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA). It is the companion to the previous lesson on resident withholding taxes; the two are kept apart because the rates differ, the Schedules differ, and treaty relief is available only to non-residents.

The non-resident WHTs, with their confirmed Finance Act rates as at 27 May 2025, are: the Non-Resident Shareholders' Tax (NRST) on dividends paid to non-residents — Section 26 of the Income Tax Act [Chapter 23:06], Ninth Schedule; the rate (Finance Act Section 15) is 10% for a dividend from a security listed on a registered securities exchange, 5% for a security listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX), and 15% for any other dividend. The Non-Residents' Tax on Fees — Section 30, Seventeenth Schedule; 15% (Finance Act Section 19) on fees of a technical, managerial, administrative or consultative nature from a Zimbabwean source. The Non-Residents' Tax on Royalties — Section 32, Nineteenth Schedule; 15% (Finance Act Section 21). The Non-Residents' Tax on Remittances — Section 31, Eighteenth Schedule; 15% (Finance Act Section 20) on the remittance of allocable expenditure of a technical/managerial/administrative/consultative nature by a non-resident carrying on a trade in Zimbabwe.

A critical point of accuracy: the Non-residents' tax on interest (old Section 29) was repealed (by Act 5/2009 w.e.f. 30 September 2009). There is therefore no standalone non-residents' tax on interest in the current Act; interest paid to non-residents is dealt with through the residents' tax on interest regime where it applies, the ordinary source/gross-income rules, or the relevant exemptions — a frequent trap for candidates who recite a rate that no longer exists. The lesson flags this prominently.

The remittance, certificate and timing mechanics are tight. NRST must be withheld and remitted within 30 days of distribution (Ninth Schedule); fees, royalties and remittances tax must be paid within 10 days (Seventeenth/Eighteenth/Nineteenth Schedules). A payer or agent who fails to withhold becomes personally liable for the tax plus a 100% penalty (subject to the Commissioner's waiver where there was no intent to evade). Each Schedule requires a certificate to the payee and a return with payment; over-withholding is refundable on a claim made within 6 years.

Treaty-reduced rates override the domestic rate where a DTA applies and the recipient is a beneficial owner resident in the treaty partner (ZIMRA practice requires a certificate of residence). Under the Zimbabwe–South Africa DTA (2016) the caps are: dividends 5% (company beneficial owner holding ≥ 25% of capital) or 10% otherwise (Article 10); interest 5% with government/central-bank/listed-debt exemptions (Article 11); royalties 10% (Article 12); and technical fees 5% (Article 13). So a South African technical-services provider pays 5% rather than the domestic 15% — a two-thirds reduction — provided it can prove residence and beneficial ownership.

The non-resident WHTs interlock with the rest of the system: Sections 95–97 give a non-resident a credit for fees/royalties WHT against any Zimbabwe income tax assessed on the same income (so the WHT is final for a pure non-resident but creditable where the non-resident is also assessable, e.g. through a permanent establishment); the digital economy is reached separately by the satellite-broadcasting / e-commerce charge (Sections 12(6)–(7) and 12A; 5% under Finance Act Section 14(2)(k) above a US$500,000 revenue threshold); and transfer pricing can re-test an intra-group fee, royalty or interest payment for arm's-length pricing. Every rate and section here is grounded in the Income Tax Act and Finance Act as at 27 May 2025 and the SA DTA (2016); unconfirmable procedural specifics are flagged. **

First principles — taxing the foreigner you cannot assess

Income tax is normally assessed after the year on the recipient. That model fails for a non-resident recipient: once the money leaves Zimbabwe, ZIMRA has no realistic way to assess or collect from a person with no presence, no assets and no return-filing obligation here. Withholding solves the problem by collecting at the moment of payment, from the Zimbabwean payer, who is within ZIMRA's reach. The non-resident WHTs therefore protect the source taxing right: Zimbabwe taxes income arising in Zimbabwe even though it accrues to a foreigner, by making the local payer the collecting agent.

This is the international-tax principle of source taxation. A country may tax (i) its residents on worldwide income and (ii) non-residents on income sourced within its borders. The non-resident WHTs are Zimbabwe's machinery for the second limb on passive and service income — dividends, fees, royalties and remittances — that would otherwise escape entirely.

Resident vs non-resident WHTs — why the split matters

The previous lesson covered WHTs where the recipient is resident (resident shareholders' tax, residents' tax on interest, the contract/ITF 263 withholding, presumptive taxes). This lesson covers WHTs where the recipient is a non-resident. Three things change:

• The Schedule changes — NRST sits in the Ninth Schedule, the resident shareholders' tax in the Fifteenth; they are different taxes with different rules.
• The rate can change — the unlisted-dividend rate is the same 15% for residents and non-residents, but fees and royalties carry distinct non-resident charges with no resident equivalent.
• Treaty relief becomes available — a DTA can cap or eliminate the Zimbabwean tax, but only for a non-resident of the treaty partner. A resident never claims treaty relief against Zimbabwe's own tax on Zimbabwean-source income.

Where this sits in the sequence

This is the second lesson of the Withholding Taxes module, following Resident Withholding Taxes. It assumes the gross-income, source and assessment framework from the income-tax course and the WHT mechanics (deduct–certificate–remit) introduced in the first lesson. It feeds directly into International Tax & DTAs (treaty relief, the certificate of residence, beneficial ownership) and interlocks with Transfer Pricing (a cross-border fee, royalty or interest payment to a connected non-resident carries WHT and must be arm's length). ZIMRA audit interest is high here: cross-border service and royalty payments are a classic site of both under-withholding and disguised profit-shifting.

B.1 The three-part structure — charging section + Schedule + Finance Act rate

Every Zimbabwean WHT has the same legal architecture: a charging section in the Income Tax Act [Chapter 23:06] that imposes the tax and points to a Schedule; a Schedule to the Act that contains the operational rules (who withholds, when, certificates, remittance, penalties, refunds); and a rate fixed in the Finance Act. To apply any WHT you must read all three. Part IV of the Act ("Taxes on Shareholders, Interest, Fees, Remittances & Royalties") houses the charging sections.

The non-resident WHTs and their anchors:

• Non-Resident Shareholders' Tax (NRST) — charging Section 26; Ninth Schedule; rate in Finance Act Section 15.
• Non-Residents' Tax on Fees — charging Section 30; Seventeenth Schedule; rate in Finance Act Section 19.
• Non-Residents' Tax on Remittances — charging Section 31; Eighteenth Schedule; rate in Finance Act Section 20.
• Non-Residents' Tax on Royalties — charging Section 32; Nineteenth Schedule; rate in Finance Act Section 21.
• Credits — Sections 95 and 96 (credit for fees/royalties WHT against income tax).

B.2 Non-Resident Shareholders' Tax — Section 26; Ninth Schedule

Section 26 charges a non-resident shareholders' tax "in accordance with the Ninth Schedule at the rate fixed... in the charging Act." A dividend declared by a company ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe to a non-resident shareholder is subject to NRST, withheld by the company (or, if it does not, by an agent who receives the dividend on the non-resident's behalf — Ninth Schedule paragraph 3).

The Ninth Schedule definition of "dividend" excludes, among others, certain building-society shares, bonus shares, amounts the Commissioner regards as a return of capital, distributions by the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe, amounts to the International Finance Corporation, and distributions by a special-economic-zone licensed investor. "Company" means a company ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe; residence turns on where central management and control is situated (paragraph 1(3)). A dividend is "distributed" when paid, credited, or so dealt with that the shareholder becomes entitled to it, whichever occurs first (paragraph 1(2)).

Finance Act Section 15 fixes the NRST rate: - 10% where the dividend is from a security listed on a registered securities exchange (Securities and Exchange Act [Chapter 24:25]); - 5% where the security is listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) (as defined in paragraph 4(f) of the Third Schedule); - 15% in the case of any other dividend (unlisted/private companies).

(The section was substituted by Act 8/2020 w.e.f. the year of assessment beginning 1 August 2020, which introduced the 5% VFEX rate as a deliberate incentive to list on the VFEX.) NRST is a final tax on the dividend in the non-resident's hands. The Ninth Schedule also contains a foreign-receipts apportionment: where a company proves its receipts from outside Zimbabwe exceeded 15% of total receipts in the relevant accounting year, the dividend is reduced by the fraction B/C (Zimbabwe receipts / total receipts), so NRST bites only on the Zimbabwe-sourced portion.

B.3 Non-Residents' Tax on Fees — Section 30; Seventeenth Schedule

Section 30 charges a non-residents' tax on fees under the Seventeenth Schedule. "Fees" means "any amount from a source within Zimbabwe payable in respect of any services of a technical, managerial, administrative or consultative nature." Fees are deemed from a Zimbabwean source if the payer is ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe (paragraph 1(2)(a)). The Schedule excludes from "fees", among others: services rendered to an individual unconnected with his business; services by an employee (other than a director) of the payer; education or technical training; repair of goods outside Zimbabwe; ministerially specified projects; projects under intergovernmental agreements adopted under the International Treaties Act [Chapter 3:05]; services to a special-economic-zone licensed investor or industrial-park developer; certain export-market services by an export agent (capped at 5% of FOB export value); and non-executive directors' fees taxed under the Thirty-Third Schedule.

Finance Act Section 19 sets the rate at 15% (reduced from 20% by the Finance (No.3) Act 10/2009 w.e.f. 1 January 2010). The payer must withhold and remit within 10 days of payment (Seventeenth Schedule paragraph 2); an agent who receives fees from which the payer did not withhold must do so within 10 days (paragraph 3); and a payee who receives fees from which nothing was withheld must itself pay within 10 days (paragraph 4). A certificate showing the fees and the tax withheld must be given to the payee.

B.4 Non-Residents' Tax on Royalties — Section 32; Nineteenth Schedule

Section 32 charges a non-residents' tax on royalties under the Nineteenth Schedule. "Royalties" means "any amount from a source within Zimbabwe payable as consideration for the use of, or the right to use," any copyright work (literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, scientific — including films/recordings), any patent, trade mark, design or model, plan, secret formula or process, or industrial/commercial/scientific equipment, or for information concerning industrial, commercial or scientific experience (know-how). Royalties are deemed Zimbabwean-source if the payer is resident OR the property is used in Zimbabwe (paragraph 1(2)(a)). Finance Act Section 21 sets the rate at 15% (reduced from 20% by the Finance (No.3) Act 10/2009 w.e.f. 1 January 2010). The withholding and 10-day remittance mechanics mirror the fees Schedule.

B.5 Non-Residents' Tax on Remittances — Section 31; Eighteenth Schedule

Section 31 charges a non-residents' tax on remittances under the Eighteenth Schedule. This is the subtle one. "Allocable expenditure" means expenditure of a technical, managerial, administrative or consultative nature incurred outside Zimbabwe by a non-resident in connection with the carrying on by him of a trade within Zimbabwe; a "remittance" is the transfer of any amount from Zimbabwe to another country. The charge falls on the non-resident person itself: "Any non-resident person who effects any remittance in respect of allocable expenditure shall... pay non-residents' tax on remittances... within 10 days of the date of remittance" (paragraph 2). Finance Act Section 20 sets the rate at 15% (reduced from 20% by Act 3/2010 w.e.f. 17 September 2010). In essence it catches a foreign branch sending its head-office overhead out of Zimbabwe, ensuring that overhead which has reduced Zimbabwean profit bears a source charge on its way out.

B.6 The repealed non-residents' tax on interest (old Section 29)

Old Section 29 — "Non-residents' tax on interest" — was REPEALED by Act 5/2009 w.e.f. 30 September 2009 (and the corresponding Finance Act rate provision, Section 18, repealed in step). There is no standalone non-residents' tax on interest today. Interest paid to or earned by non-residents is now dealt with through (i) the residents' tax on interest regime (Section 34, Twenty-First Schedule) where the interest is paid by a Zimbabwean financial institution and falls within that charge, (ii) the exemptions for prescribed instruments, or (iii) the ordinary source/gross-income rules where the interest is Zimbabwean-source business income. Reciting a "non-resident interest WHT rate" is therefore a factual error. **

B.7 The digital economy — satellite broadcasting & e-commerce (Sections 12(6)–(7), 12A)

Separate from the classic WHTs, Section 12(6)–(7) deems income of a foreign-domiciled satellite-broadcasting service or electronic-commerce operator from Zimbabwe-resident customers to be Zimbabwean-source income, and Section 12A charges it where the operator's Zimbabwe revenue exceeds US$500,000 in the year of assessment. Finance Act Section 14(2)(k) fixes the rate at 5%. This is not a withholding at source by a payer; the non-resident operator must appoint a representative taxpayer in Zimbabwe (within 30 days) and pay quarterly (25 March, 25 June, 25 September, 20 December). Failure attracts the familiar 100% penalty and refunds are claimable within 6 years. It is the modern extension of source taxation to the digital cross-border supply, and sits naturally beside the non-resident WHTs.

B.8 The credits — Sections 95 and 96

Section 95 allows a non-resident to whom fees (as defined in the Seventeenth Schedule) have accrued, and from which non-residents' tax on fees was withheld and paid, to claim that tax as a credit against income tax chargeable on those fees. Section 96 does the same for royalties withheld under the Nineteenth Schedule. The credit is capped by the formula A − B (the extra income tax attributable to including the fees/royalties), and total credits cannot exceed the income tax chargeable for the year. The practical effect: for a pure non-resident with no Zimbabwe assessment the WHT is the final cost; but where the non-resident is also assessable (typically through a permanent establishment), the WHT is creditable against the income tax on the same income, preventing double taxation within Zimbabwe.

C.1 The five questions every non-resident WHT poses

To apply any non-resident WHT, work through five questions in order:

1. Is the recipient a non-resident? "Non-resident person" means a person, partnership or foreign company not ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe (and, for several Schedules, not a special-economic-zone licensed investor). Residence is tested at the date of payment (Seventeenth Schedule paragraph 1(2)(b); Nineteenth Schedule paragraph 1(2)(b)). A partnership is treated as Zimbabwe-resident if at least one member is ordinarily resident here.
2. Is the payment within a charging head? Is it a dividend (Section 26), a fee of a technical/managerial/administrative/consultative nature (Section 30), a royalty for the use of IP/equipment/know-how (Section 32), or a remittance of allocable expenditure by a trading non-resident (Section 31)? Interest is not a charging head (old Section 29 repealed).
3. Is it from a Zimbabwean source? Fees: source = payer ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe. Royalties: source = payer resident OR property used in Zimbabwe. Dividends: source = a company ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe distributing to a non-resident. The source rules are statutory deeming rules — do not import common-law source notions where the Schedule supplies its own.
4. Does an exclusion or exemption apply? Each Schedule lists exclusions (employee services, training, repairs abroad, SEZ investors, ministerially specified or treaty-protected projects, export-market-service caps, non-executive fees, etc.). Check before withholding.
5. Does a DTA reduce the rate? If the recipient is a beneficial owner resident in a treaty partner and can prove it (certificate of residence), apply the lower of the domestic rate and the treaty cap.

C.2 Defining the vocabulary

• Withholding tax (WHT) — tax deducted by the payer from a payment and remitted on the recipient's behalf.
• Non-resident / non-resident person — not ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe at the date of payment.
• NRST — non-resident shareholders' tax, the WHT on dividends paid to non-residents (Section 26, Ninth Schedule).
• Fees (Section 30) — amounts for technical, managerial, administrative or consultative services from a Zimbabwean source. Not employment income; not training; not repairs abroad.
• Royalties (Section 32) — consideration for the use of, or right to use, copyright works, patents, trade marks, designs, secret formulae/processes, industrial/commercial/scientific equipment, or know-how.
• Remittance (Section 31) — the transfer of an amount from Zimbabwe abroad; the remittances tax falls on the non-resident's own remittance of allocable head-office expenditure.
• Allocable expenditure — technical/managerial/administrative/consultative expenditure incurred outside Zimbabwe by a non-resident, allocable to its Zimbabwean trade.
• Paying agent — a person who receives the income on the non-resident's behalf and must withhold if the payer did not.
• Remittance date / due date — NRST: 30 days from distribution; fees/royalties/remittances: 10 days from payment/receipt/remittance.
• Gross-up — recalculating a "net of tax" payment so that, after WHT, the recipient nets the agreed sum; the payer bears the WHT as extra cost.
• Final vs creditable WHT — a final WHT discharges the recipient's liability on that income; a creditable WHT is a prepayment credited against an assessment (Sections 95–96 for fees/royalties where the non-resident is also assessable).
• Treaty-reduced rate — the capped rate under a DTA, available to a beneficial owner resident in the treaty partner.
• Certificate of residence — documentary proof (issued by the partner state's revenue authority) that the recipient is resident there; ZIMRA practice requires it before applying a treaty rate.

C.3 Beneficial ownership and treaty shopping

A DTA caps the source state's tax only where the recipient is the beneficial owner of the income. A mere conduit or nominee interposed in a treaty country to capture a lower rate ("treaty shopping") does not qualify — the beneficial-ownership requirement in Articles 10–13 of the SA DTA is the anti-abuse gateway. ZIMRA scrutinises arrangements where a payment is routed through a treaty jurisdiction with no genuine economic substance.

C.4 The withholding-remittance-certificate cycle

For each charge the cycle is identical in shape: (1) deduct the WHT from the gross payment; (2) pay the recipient the net; (3) remit the WHT to ZIMRA by the due date (30 days for NRST; 10 days for fees/royalties/remittances), accompanied by the prescribed return; (4) issue a certificate to the recipient showing the gross amount and the tax withheld. If the payer fails to withhold, the agent must; if neither does, the payee must (fees) or the non-resident remains liable. The payer/agent who defaults is personally liable for the tax plus a 100% penalty (waivable by the Commissioner where there was no intent to evade). Over-withholding is refundable on a claim within 6 years.

All computations use US dollars (Zimbabwe's reporting currency for these taxes) and the confirmed Finance Act rates as at 27 May 2025.

D.1 NRST on an unlisted dividend (private company → foreign parent)

Facts. Harare Manufacturing (Pvt) Ltd, ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe, declares a dividend of US$100,000 to its foreign parent (a non-resident company). The shares are unlisted.

NRST is a final tax: the parent has no further Zimbabwean liability on the dividend.

D.2 NRST — listed and VFEX-listed shares compared

Same US$100,000 dividend, varying the listing status:

The 5% VFEX rate (introduced by Act 8/2020) is a deliberate listing incentive: a non-resident investor keeps US$95,000 of the same dividend if the company lists on the VFEX, versus US$85,000 if it stays private — a US$10,000 swing on every US$100,000 distributed.

D.3 NRST with the SA DTA (Article 10)

The foreign parent in D.1 is instead a South African company holding 30% of Harare Manufacturing and able to produce a certificate of residence.

Had the SA shareholder held less than 25% (a portfolio holding), Article 10(2)(b) caps the rate at 10%, giving NRST of US$10,000 and a saving of US$5,000. No certificate of residence → no treaty relief → withhold the full 15%.

D.4 Non-residents' tax on fees — domestic and treaty

Facts. Zimbabwe Mining (Pvt) Ltd pays a management and technical-services fee of US$50,000 to a non-resident consultancy. The payer is ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe, so the fee is Zimbabwean-source (Seventeenth Schedule paragraph 1(2)(a)).

If the consultancy is South African with a certificate of residence, SA DTA Article 13(2) caps technical fees at 5%:

Not every treaty has a technical-fees article; where none exists, technical/management fees may fall under business profits (Article 7) and be taxable in Zimbabwe only if the non-resident has a permanent establishment here — which can eliminate the WHT entirely for a fee earned without a PE. **

D.5 Gross-up where the fee is agreed "net of Zimbabwean tax"

Facts. The contract in D.4 says the consultant must receive US$50,000 clear of Zimbabwean taxes; the payer bears any WHT. At the domestic 15% rate the payer must gross up.

Gross-up formula: Gross = Net ÷ (1 − rate).

The "net of tax" clause therefore costs the payer US$8,823.53 of extra outlay, not US$7,500 — a common contracting trap. Always price WHT into cross-border service contracts.

D.6 Non-residents' tax on royalties — domestic and treaty

Facts. A Zimbabwean brewer pays a royalty of US$80,000 to a non-resident licensor for the right to use a trade mark and secret recipe in Zimbabwe (Zimbabwean-source under Nineteenth Schedule paragraph 1(2)(a)).

If the licensor is South African with a certificate of residence, SA DTA Article 12(2) caps royalties at 10%: WHT US$8,000, net US$72,000, treaty saving US$4,000.

D.7 Non-residents' tax on remittances — head-office overhead

Facts. A South African construction company operates a branch in Zimbabwe. During the year it incurs US$200,000 of head-office technical/managerial/administrative overhead outside Zimbabwe allocable to the Zimbabwean trade, and remits that amount out of Zimbabwe.

Note the charge falls on the non-resident itself (the branch's principal), not on a Zimbabwean payer — there is no "payee" to withhold from. This is the structural difference from the fees/royalties Schedules. Whether the SA DTA reduces this charge depends on its characterisation under the treaty (it is not a dividend, interest, royalty or technical fee in the ordinary sense, so the business-profits article and the branch's effective connection must be analysed). **

D.8 Credit where the non-resident is also assessable (Sections 95–96)

Facts. A non-resident engineering firm earns US$50,000 of Seventeenth-Schedule fees through a permanent establishment in Zimbabwe, suffers US$7,500 WHT on fees, and is then assessed to income tax on the PE's profits, of which the income tax attributable to the fees (the A − B increment) is US$6,500.

The credit cannot exceed the income tax on the same income; the excess is not a free refund of the WHT against unrelated tax. For a pure non-resident with no PE and no assessment, by contrast, the US$7,500 WHT is the final cost.

D.9 Digital-economy charge (Sections 12A; Finance Act Section 14(2)(k))

Facts. A foreign streaming platform earns US$2,000,000 from Zimbabwe-resident subscribers in the year — above the US$500,000 threshold.

This is a charge on revenue, not net profit, collected via a representative rather than a withholding payer — the modern source-tax extension to digital cross-border supply.

Zimbabwe has an unusually rich body of case law on the non-resident WHTs, especially on the meaning of "fees" and on the source and timing of payment. All cases below are cited in the Income Tax Act source material; foreign authority is labelled non-binding.

• BAT (British American Tobacco) & Ors v Commissioner of Taxes 94-HH-001. Cited under the Ninth Schedule (NRST). Concerns the dividend/NRST machinery and the obligation of a Zimbabwe-resident company distributing to non-resident shareholders. Significance: anchors the company's primary withholding duty under paragraph 2 of the Ninth Schedule.

• Delta Corporation Ltd v ZIMRA 15-HH-621. Cited under Section 28: tax accrues on the act of declaring a dividend. Significance: although a resident-shareholders'-tax case, the timing principle applies equally to NRST — the charge crystallises on declaration/distribution, consistent with the "paid, credited or so dealt with that he becomes entitled" trigger in the Ninth Schedule.

• Sunfresh Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd v Zimra 04-HB-078. On the meaning of "fees": "fees" includes only money sourced from inside Zimbabwe, not the commissions paid thereon. Significance: narrows the fees base — pure agency commissions on foreign-sourced amounts may fall outside the Seventeenth Schedule.

• M Coy (Pvt) Ltd v Zimra 16-HH-661, upheld on appeal 21-SC-098. Commissions paid to a foreign agent. Significance: appellate confirmation of how commissions interact with the fees definition; the characterisation of the payment (genuine commission vs disguised technical fee) is decisive.

• Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Ltd v Zimra 18-SC-023. Services of a managerial or administrative nature. Significance: a Supreme Court authority on what constitutes managerial/administrative services within "fees", and on when fees are deemed paid (credited/entitled).

• G Bank Zimbabwe Ltd v ZIMRA 15-HH-207. Whether bank charges automatically raised by offshore banks holding the appellant's Nostro accounts constituted "fees" income subject to the WHT. Significance: tests the boundary between bank charges and technical/administrative fees.

• Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe v Zimra 04-HH-162. On when fees are "deemed paid": the condition is fulfilment of entitlement — and crucially this does not refer to the granting of exchange-control authority for the payment. Significance: a payer cannot defer the WHT trigger by pointing to outstanding exchange-control approval; entitlement, not remittability, fixes the date.

• SW (Pvt) Ltd v Zimra 19-HH-499 and E (Pvt) Ltd v Zimra 22-HH-010. Further High Court authority on the fees definition and the deemed-payment rule; E (Pvt) Ltd also features in the penalty context. Significance: reinforce the broad reach of "technical/managerial/administrative/consultative" and the strictness of the withholding obligation.

• M Safaris (Pvt) Ltd v Zimra 20-HH-331. Commissions paid to foreign agents in the context of export-market services. Significance: illustrates the export-market-services exclusion and the 5%-of-FOB cap on export-agent fees in the Seventeenth Schedule.

• Zimasco v ZIMRA 16-HH-149. On the words "any amount" in the fees definition. Significance: the breadth of "any amount... payable in respect of" technical services is construed widely.

• Mota Engenhari Construction SA v Zimra 22-SC-115. A Supreme Court fees case involving a South African construction enterprise. Significance: a leading recent authority on cross-border construction/engineering fees and the interaction with treaty positions.

• LFCZ Ltd v ZIMRA 19-HH-164. Cited under the penalty provision (Seventeenth Schedule paragraph 6). Significance: confirms the 100% penalty exposure for failure to withhold/remit fees tax, and the Commissioner's waiver discretion.

• Air Zimbabwe Corporation & 10 Others v ZIMRA 03-HH-096. On whether ZIMRA were entitled to charge interest on unpaid non-resident taxes. Significance: addresses interest on overdue WHT in the fees/remittances context.

• T M Fee' v COT 91-ITC-1535. On the source of payments for permission, imparting of knowledge or undertakings (royalty-/know-how-type payments), and that source does not depend on where payment is made. Significance: supports the statutory source-deeming for royalties — what matters is use/right-to-use in Zimbabwe and the payer's residence, not the place of payment.

• Reciting a "non-resident interest WHT". Old Section 29 was repealed in 2009. Quoting a non-resident interest rate is wrong; analyse cross-border interest under the residents'-tax-on-interest regime, exemptions, or ordinary source rules.
• Applying the treaty rate without a certificate of residence. Treaty relief is conditional on the recipient being a beneficial owner resident in the partner state and proving it. No certificate → withhold the full domestic rate; the recipient can later reclaim if entitled.
• Confusing the remittances tax with the fees tax. The remittances tax (Section 31) falls on the non-resident's own remittance of allocable head-office expenditure; the fees tax (Section 30) is withheld by a Zimbabwean payer from a payment to a non-resident. They can both touch the same branch but operate on different amounts and different persons.
• Missing the short remittance deadlines. Fees/royalties/remittances tax is due within 10 days — not the 30 days that applies to NRST. Late remittance triggers personal liability and the 100% penalty.
• Treating WHT as automatically final. For fees and royalties, Sections 95–96 make the WHT creditable where the non-resident is also assessable (e.g. through a PE); it is only final for a non-resident with no Zimbabwe assessment.
• Deferring the WHT trigger pending exchange-control approval. Barclays Bank makes clear the tax bites when the recipient becomes entitled, regardless of remittability.
• Ignoring the source-deeming rules. Fees are Zimbabwean-source if the payer is resident, even if the work was done abroad; royalties if the IP is used in Zimbabwe or the payer is resident. Do not apply common-law source tests where the Schedule supplies its own.
• Overlooking exclusions. SEZ investors, intergovernmental-agreement projects, employee services, training, repairs abroad, non-executive fees and export-agent fees within the 5%-FOB cap are all outside the relevant charge — withholding on them is over-withholding.
• Forgetting the certificate and return. Each Schedule requires a certificate to the payee and a return with payment; failure is itself an offence.
• Treaty shopping through a conduit. Routing a payment through a low-rate treaty jurisdiction without genuine beneficial ownership fails the Article 10–13 beneficial-ownership test and invites reassessment.

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.

• Non-resident WHTs protect Zimbabwe's source taxing right by making the local payer collect tax the foreigner could never be assessed for.
• The four live charges: NRST (Section 26, Ninth Sch — 10% listed / 5% VFEX / 15% other); fees (Section 30, Seventeenth Sch — 15%); royalties (Section 32, Nineteenth Sch — 15%); remittances (Section 31, Eighteenth Sch — 15%).
• There is no non-resident interest WHT — old Section 29 was repealed in 2009. This is the module's most-tested trap.
• Source is statutory: fees from a Zimbabwean source if the payer is resident; royalties if the IP is used in Zimbabwe or the payer is resident; the place of payment is irrelevant (T M Fee').
• Timing: NRST 30 days; fees/royalties/remittances 10 days. The trigger is entitlement, not exchange-control approval (Barclays Bank).
• Default is expensive: the payer/agent is personally liable for the tax plus a 100% penalty, waivable only for innocent failure (LFCZ).
• Treaty relief caps the rate only for a beneficial owner resident in the partner state who proves it with a certificate of residence. Under the SA DTA: dividends 5%/10%, interest 5%, royalties 10%, technical fees 5%.
• Final vs creditable: WHT on fees/royalties is final for a pure non-resident but creditable (Sections 95–96, capped at A − B) where the non-resident is also assessable through a PE.
• The digital economy is reached separately: a 5% charge on foreign satellite/e-commerce revenue above US$500,000 (Sections 12(6)–(7), 12A; Finance Act Section 14(2)(k)), paid quarterly via a representative taxpayer.
• Always price WHT into cross-border contracts — a "net of tax" clause shifts the WHT onto the payer via gross-up.

Table 1 — Non-resident WHTs at a glance (Finance Act rates as at 27 May 2025)

Table 2 — Domestic vs SA DTA (2016) treaty-reduced rates

Diagram 1 — Decision flow: applying a non-resident WHT

flowchart TD
 A[Payment to a recipient] --> B{Recipient ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe?}
 B -- Yes --> R[Apply RESIDENT WHT rules - prior lesson]
 B -- No --> C{Which charging head?}
 C -- Dividend --> D[Section 26 Ninth Sch NRST 10/5/15%]
 C -- Technical/mgmt/admin fee --> E[Section 30 Seventeenth Sch 15%]
 C -- Royalty - use of IP/equipment --> F[Section 32 Nineteenth Sch 15%]
 C -- Remittance of allocable expenditure --> G[Section 31 Eighteenth Sch 15% - paid by non-resident]
 C -- Interest --> H[No NR interest WHT - Section 29 repealed; analyse Section 34/exemptions]
 D --> I{DTA applies AND certificate of residence?}
 E --> I
 F --> I
 I -- Yes --> J[Apply lower treaty cap - e.g. SA DTA 5/10%]
 I -- No --> K[Withhold full domestic rate]
 J --> L[Deduct, pay net, remit by due date, issue certificate, file return]
 K --> L
 L --> M{Non-resident also assessable e.g. PE?}
 M -- Yes --> N[WHT creditable Sections 95-96 capped A-B]
 M -- No --> O[WHT is final]

Statutes & sections (Income Tax Act [Chapter 23:06]) - Section 26 — Non-resident shareholders' tax (Ninth Schedule); Section 26(2) deemed dividend. - Section 28 — Resident shareholders' tax (Fifteenth Schedule) — contrast only. - Section 29 — Non-residents' tax on interest — repealed by Act 5/2009 w.e.f. 30 September 2009. - Section 30 — Non-residents' tax on fees (Seventeenth Schedule). - Section 31 — Non-residents' tax on remittances (Eighteenth Schedule). - Section 32 — Non-residents' tax on royalties (Nineteenth Schedule). - Section 34 — Residents' tax on interest (Twenty-First Schedule) — for cross-border interest analysis. - Sections 12(6)–(7), 12A — satellite-broadcasting and e-commerce deemed source and charge. - Sections 95, 96 — credits for non-residents' tax on fees / royalties; Section 97 — credit for presumptive tax. - Ninth Schedule — NRST: definitions, company/agent withholding, 30-day remittance, certificate, 15%-foreign-receipts apportionment, offences. - Seventeenth Schedule — fees: definition and exclusions, source-deeming, payer/agent/payee withholding, 10-day remittance, certificate, return, 100% penalty, refund within 6 years. - Eighteenth Schedule — remittances: "allocable expenditure", non-resident to pay within 10 days, 100% penalty, refund within 6 years. - Nineteenth Schedule — royalties: definition, source-deeming, payer/agent withholding, 10-day remittance, certificate.

Rates (Finance Act as at 27 May 2025) - Section 15 — NRST: 10% (registered exchange) / 5% (VFEX) / 15% (other); section substituted by Act 8/2020 w.e.f. 1 August 2020. - Section 19 — Non-residents' tax on fees: 15% (reduced from 20% by Finance (No.3) Act 10/2009 w.e.f. 1 January 2010). - Section 20 — Non-residents' tax on remittances: 15% (reduced from 20% by Act 3/2010 w.e.f. 17 September 2010). - Section 21 — Non-residents' tax on royalties: 15% (reduced from 20% by Finance (No.3) Act 10/2009 w.e.f. 1 January 2010). - Section 14(2)(k) — satellite/e-commerce charge: 5% (inserted by Finance Act 1/2019), threshold US$500,000.

Regulations & SIs / Notices (exemptions and specified projects) - SI 38/2019 — Income Tax (Non-resident's Tax on Fees) (Shanghai Construction Group Ltd) Regulations, 2019. - SI 47/2019 — Income Tax (Exemption from Non-resident Tax on Fees) (Konoike Construction Co. Ltd) Notice, 2019. - SI 141/2019 — (Non-residents Tax on Fees / Royalties) (Hwange Electricity Supply Co.) (Pvt) Ltd Notice, 2019. - GN 122/2015 — Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) Kariba Dam project, specified project (fees exemption). - SI 45/2019 — Exemption (Non-resident's Tax on Royalties) (Andalusia Investments (Pvt) Ltd t/a Zimborders) Notice, 2019.

International instruments - Zimbabwe–South Africa DTA (2016), entry into force 1 December 2016: Article 10 (dividends 5%/10%); Article 11 (interest 5%, with government/central-bank/listed-debt exemptions); Article 12 (royalties 10%); Article 13 (technical fees 5%); Article 5 (permanent establishment); Article 7 (business profits).

Case law (Zimbabwe unless stated; foreign authority non-binding) - BAT & Ors v Commissioner of Taxes 94-HH-001 (NRST/dividends). - Delta Corporation Ltd v ZIMRA 15-HH-621 (dividend accrues on declaration). - Sunfresh Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd v Zimra 04-HB-078 (fees source; commissions). - M Coy (Pvt) Ltd v Zimra 16-HH-661, upheld 21-SC-098 (commissions to foreign agents). - Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Ltd v Zimra 18-SC-023 (managerial/administrative fees; deemed payment). - G Bank Zimbabwe Ltd v ZIMRA 15-HH-207 (offshore bank charges as fees). - Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe v Zimra 04-HH-162 (deemed payment; exchange control irrelevant). - SW (Pvt) Ltd v Zimra 19-HH-499 (fees). - E (Pvt) Ltd v Zimra 22-HH-010 (fees; penalty). - M Safaris (Pvt) Ltd v Zimra 20-HH-331 (export-market services; foreign-agent commissions). - Zimasco v ZIMRA 16-HH-149 ("any amount" in the fees definition). - Mota Engenhari Construction SA v Zimra 22-SC-115 (cross-border construction fees). - LFCZ Ltd v ZIMRA 19-HH-164 (penalty for non-withholding of fees tax). - Air Zimbabwe Corporation & 10 Others v ZIMRA 03-HH-096 (interest on overdue WHT). - T M Fee' v COT 91-ITC-1535 (source of know-how/royalty-type payments).

ZIMRA / professional guidance - ZIMRA External Guide — Digital Services WHT Return. - ZIMRA practice: certificate of residence required before applying a treaty-reduced rate (confirm current procedure).