PAYE in Zimbabwe: How to File Your Monthly Return on TaRMS

Pay As You Earn (PAYE) is the tax employers deduct from employees' remuneration and pay over to ZIMRA. Since ZIMRA moved to the Tax and Revenue Management System (TaRMS), the monthly PAYE return, employee earnings and payment all happen through TaRMS.

The PAYE deadline

Compliance note — PAYE
Employers must deduct PAYE from remuneration and remit it to ZIMRA, together with the return, by the 10th day of the month following the month of deduction. Late payment attracts penalties of up to 100% of the tax due, plus interest.
Source: ZIMRA; Income Tax Act [Chapter 23:06]. Confirm current deadlines and penalty rules with ZIMRA.

Directors and officers of a company can also be held personally liable for PAYE that was deducted but not paid over — which is why boards take PAYE seriously.

What the PAYE return needs

• Every employee paid in the month, with their TIN or ID.
• Gross remuneration and taxable benefits, per employee.
• Tax-deductible items such as pension and NSSA contributions.
• Credits such as elderly, blind or disabled person credits where applicable.
• PAYE and AIDS levy deducted.
• Earnings split by currency — USD and ZWG — with the exchange rate used.

Where PAYE goes wrong on TaRMS

• Employee incomes not generated for the period before the return is opened.
• A draft return left unsubmitted after a timed-out session.
• The same return started twice after a retry.
• An employee's calculation method or currency set incorrectly.
• OTP codes going to someone who is not in the office.

Filing PAYE directly with YoBridge

YoBridge submits the PAYE return directly on TaRMS for you — it is not a spreadsheet you then upload yourself.

1. Load earnings — type them in, import CSV or Excel, or have your payroll system send them through the YoBridge API (YoERP already does).
2. Check readiness — employees with missing TINs, currencies or calculation methods are flagged.
3. Approve — confirm the declaration and keep a record of who approved.
4. Submit — every submission is tracked from start to finish, so if anything is interrupted YoBridge continues the same return instead of creating a duplicate.

When TaRMS sends a verification code, you answer it on the web or in the mobile app and the submission continues.

Same data, two returns

The earnings you use for PAYE are the same ones that feed your NSSA P4. Maintain them once in YoBridge and both returns agree.

See PAYE returns in YoBridge.

General guidance only, not tax advice. Confirm current PAYE tables, credits and deadlines with ZIMRA.