African Tax Observatory · Country brief · ZimbabweData pulled 14 October 2026 · taxintellilyticsstories.com/africa/countries/ZWE

Centre 19°00′S 29°51′E

Gazetteer · Southern Africa · Lower middle income

Zimbabwe

Collected 12.4% of GDP in tax in 2024, 27 of 38 reporting members.

12.4%

Tax, % of GDP, 2024

−12.9

Points since 2010

across a break: see the note

1.43

Tax buoyancy

over 5 years, across a break

$37

Tax per person

PPP dollars

Read with care · a break in the series

No figures from 2013 to 2023

GDP in purchasing-power dollars goes from $22.6bn in 2012 to $4.9bn in 2024. ATAF publishes nothing for Zimbabwe in between, so nothing shows how the two stretches join. Tax to GDP moves from 27.5% to 12.4%. Part of that change may come from the new figures rather than from new tax, so compare years on the same side of the break.

Zimbabwe gave up its own currency in 2009 and ran on the US dollar and other foreign currencies, brought back a Zimbabwe dollar in 2019, and replaced it with the ZiG (Zimbabwe Gold) in April 2024. Converting national accounts to purchasing-power dollars across changes like these is unreliable, which is the most likely reason for the fall in the level.

Every break across the atlas, and the rule that finds them: the colophon.

Plate I·Over time

Fifteen years, against the continent

Over time

Zimbabwe against the continent

Measure

ZimbabweSouthern Africa medianATAF median and middle half

The shaded band is the middle half of ATAF members each year (25th to 75th percentile); the dashed line is the median of Southern Africa. The members reporting change from year to year, so the band can move because the set of countries changed; the CSV gives the count for each year.

Show the numbers as a table

Year	Zimbabwe	Southern Africa median	ATAF median	ATAF 25th percentile	ATAF 75th percentile	Members reporting
2010	25.36	15.60	14.34	10.67	16.43	26
2011	28.06	15.19	14.84	10.99	16.62	33
2012	27.48	16.25	15.07	11.45	16.75	33
2013		15.43	13.83	11.23	16.89	32
2014		15.31	14.26	11.87	17.13	32
2015		15.87	15.08	12.33	18.55	33
2016		14.57	14.38	12.40	17.43	33
2017		15.89	14.75	11.50	16.95	35
2018		16.83	14.18	10.86	16.10	36
2019		17.80	13.57	11.51	17.23	38
2020		16.20	13.27	10.85	16.07	38
2021		15.74	12.72	10.44	16.06	40
2022		18.21	14.18	11.34	18.16	39
2023		20.06	14.43	11.30	18.82	37
2024	12.44	18.92	14.30	12.17	18.05	38
2025	13.83	19.51	13.74	12.18	20.53	34

Plate II·Peers, 2024

Each tax beside the medians

Against its peers, 2024

Each tax as a share of GDP, beside the medians

The line joins Zimbabwe (orange) to the ATAF median (grey); the blue tick is the Southern Africa median. All three are for 2024.

Show the numbers as a table

Measure	Zimbabwe	Southern Africa median	ATAF median
Tax-to-GDP	12.44	18.92	14.30
Domestic taxes	8.35	13.03	9.01
Customs taxes	4.09	4.70	4.87
Non-tax revenue	2.88	2.88	2.59
VAT	5.27	7.29	5.20
PIT	2.81	4.12	2.04
CIT	1.94	3.28	2.72

Plate III·Tax heads

How Zimbabwe's tax is made up

Tax heads

What each tax brings in, as a share of GDP

Domestic VATPersonal income taxCorporate income taxWithholding taxPresumptive taxOther domestic taxesVAT on importsImport dutyOther customs taxesNot attributed to a headExcise on imports

Each bar stacks the tax heads ATAF publishes for that year. Where the heads do not add up to total tax revenue, the gap is drawn in light grey and labelled, never spread across the heads. A head missing from a year was not reported for that year.

Show the numbers as a table

Year	Tax head	Revenue (PPP $)	% of GDP
2010	Domestic VAT	1598382805	8.82
2010	Personal income tax	827448351	4.57
2010	Corporate income tax	492524631	2.72
2010	Withholding tax	133113679	0.73
2010	Presumptive tax	10041234	0.06
2010	Other domestic taxes	17403473	0.10
2010	VAT on imports	716197757	3.95
2010	Import duty	671350697	3.70
2010	Other customs taxes	62498026	0.34
2010	Not attributed to a head	67777846	0.37
2011	Domestic VAT	2090197066	9.93
2011	Personal income tax	1130013215	5.37
2011	Corporate income tax	569969642	2.71
2011	Withholding tax	178543736	0.85
2011	Presumptive tax	25252944	0.12
2011	Other domestic taxes	32964261	0.16
2011	VAT on imports	917811900	4.36
2011	Import duty	642532567	3.05
2011	Other customs taxes	65227162	0.31
2011	Not attributed to a head	256529151	1.22
2012	Domestic VAT	1966244709	8.71
2012	Personal income tax	1205712776	5.34
2012	Corporate income tax	752065746	3.33
2012	Withholding tax	216488504	0.96
2012	Presumptive tax	46437146	0.21
2012	Other domestic taxes	32223267	0.14
2012	VAT on imports	918732503	4.07
2012	Import duty	629919844	2.79
2012	Other customs taxes	66764275	0.30
2012	Not attributed to a head	366175830	1.62
2024	Domestic VAT	181253509	3.67
2024	Personal income tax	138637033	2.81
2024	Corporate income tax	95898402	1.94
2024	Withholding tax	11431951	0.23
2024	Presumptive tax	399110	0.01
2024	Other domestic taxes	5460200	0.11
2024	VAT on imports	78687604	1.60
2024	Import duty	43567312	0.88
2024	Excise on imports	69745749	1.41
2024	Other customs taxes	9758779	0.20
2025	Domestic VAT	105733757	3.08
2025	Personal income tax	103480911	3.01
2025	Corporate income tax	65704911	1.91
2025	Withholding tax	9677592	0.28
2025	Presumptive tax	390778	0.01
2025	Other domestic taxes	40724992	1.19
2025	VAT on imports	56126884	1.63
2025	Import duty	37310025	1.09
2025	Excise on imports	60928274	1.77
2025	Other customs taxes	6776074	0.20

The mix in 2024

Every shilling, franc or rand of tax, by head

Rectangle areas are proportional to revenue in 2024 (US dollars at purchasing-power parity). Total tax revenue: $613.6m.

Show the numbers as a table

Tax head	Revenue (PPP $)	Share of tax revenue
Domestic VAT	181253509	0.30
Personal income tax	138637033	0.23
Corporate income tax	95898402	0.16
Withholding tax	11431951	0.02
Presumptive tax	399110	0.00
Other domestic taxes	5460200	0.01
VAT on imports	78687604	0.13
Import duty	43567312	0.07
Excise on imports	69745749	0.11
Other customs taxes	9758779	0.02

Every published number

Zimbabwe in the ATAF Databank

All 23 freely available indicators, exactly as ATAF publishes them. A blank cell means ATAF has no figure for that year; nothing is filled in.

Zimbabwe: ATAF Databank indicators by year
Indicator	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Nominal GDP (PPP)	$18.1bn	$21.1bn	$22.6bn												$4.9bn	$3.4bn
Real GDP	9,085.0m	10,166.0m	11,240.0m	11,744.0m	12,196.8m	12,379.0m	12,398.0m	60,308.6m	65,674.8m	24,970.7m	25,325.1m	34,089.5m	29,415.0m	32,675.5m		51,004.1m
Final Consumption (PPP)																$3.2bn
Total Tax Revenues (PPP)	$4.6bn	$5.9bn	$6.2bn												$613.6m	$475.2m
Total Number Of Registered Taxpayers					183k		228k			316k	325k		381k		219k	236k
Non-Tax-Revenues (PPP)			$411.7m												$141.9m	$199.0m
Domestic Tax Revenues (PPP)	$3.1bn	$4.3bn	$4.6bn												$411.8m	$314.1m
Customs Tax Revenues (PPP)	$1.5bn	$1.6bn	$1.6bn												$201.8m	$161.1m
Revenue From Agriculture, Forest & Fishing (PPP)															$17.3m	$14.5m
Revenue From Mining & Quarrying (PPP)															$62.3m	$50.9m
Revenue From Secondary Sector (PPP)															$100.1m	$84.7m
Revenue From Tertiary Sector (PPP)															$244.5m	$201.6m
Domestic VAT Revenues (PPP)	$1.6bn	$2.1bn	$2.0bn												$181.3m	$105.7m
VAT Refunded (PPP)	$257.2m	$332.7m	$356.3m												$36.6m	$20.3m
PIT Revenues (PPP)	$827.4m	$1.1bn	$1.2bn												$138.6m	$103.5m
CIT Revenues (PPP)	$492.5m	$570.0m	$752.1m												$95.9m	$65.7m
Withholding Tax Revenues (PPP)	$133.1m	$178.5m	$216.5m												$11.4m	$9.7m
Presumptive Tax Revenues (PPP)	$10.0m	$25.3m	$46.4m												$399.1k	$390.8k
Other Domestic Tax Revenues (PPP)	$17.4m	$33.0m	$32.2m												$5.5m	$40.7m
VAT On Import Revenues (PPP)	$716.2m	$917.8m	$918.7m												$78.7m	$56.1m
Import Duty Revenues (PPP)	$671.4m	$642.5m	$629.9m												$43.6m	$37.3m
Excises on Imports Revenues (PPP)															$69.7m	$60.9m
Other Customs Tax Revenues (PPP)	$62.5m	$65.2m	$66.8m												$9.8m	$6.8m

Values are rounded for display; the CSV has them exactly as published. Revenue and GDP are US dollars at purchasing-power parity.

Data-quality checks

What the automatic checks found

These are rule-based checks, run on every pull. A flag says the numbers deserve a second look, not that they are wrong; the methods page explains each rule.

Year	Check	Detail
2010	Disagrees with the World Bank	ATAF gives 25.4% of GDP; the World Bank's central-government series gives 17.4%.
2011	Disagrees with the World Bank	ATAF gives 28.1% of GDP; the World Bank's central-government series gives 17.9%.
2012	Disagrees with the World Bank	ATAF gives 27.5% of GDP; the World Bank's central-government series gives 17.8%.

Source: ATAF Databank, the African Tax Administration Forum; World Bank World Development Indicators. Tax and GDP are in US dollars at purchasing-power parity, so their ratio equals the ratio in local currency. Cite as: Kaijamahe, W. H. (2026). Zimbabwe. In African Tax Observatory (Edition 1, October 2026) [Data set and atlas]. TaxIntellilytics Stories. https://www.taxintellilyticsstories.com/africa/countries/ZWE Every figure and its method: taxintellilyticsstories.com/africa/methods

Cite this sheet

Zimbabwe, in Edition 1

Kaijamahe, W. H. (2026). Zimbabwe. In African Tax Observatory (Edition 1, October 2026) [Data set and atlas]. TaxIntellilytics Stories. https://www.taxintellilyticsstories.com/africa/countries/ZWE

Southern Africa

Neighbouring profiles

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