Zimbabwe just slapped a new tax on pretty much everything digital you pay for online. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube announced the Digital Services Withholding Tax, which hits payments going to foreign platforms like Netflix, Spotify, Starlink, and ride-hailing apps such as Uber and inDrive. Your bank or mobile money provider will automatically yank the tax out before sending money overseas, so expect those subscription prices to basically go up.
The tax rate wasn't even mentioned in the budget docs, which is a classic government move. This comes after the revenue authority warned back in September that nobody was getting a pass on registration. Ncube also tweaked the controversial 2% mobile money tax down to 1.5% for local currency transactions, but foreign currency transfers still get hit with the full 2%. VAT is also climbing to 15.5% starting next year.
The tax rate wasn't even mentioned in the budget docs, which is a classic government move. This comes after the revenue authority warned back in September that nobody was getting a pass on registration. Ncube also tweaked the controversial 2% mobile money tax down to 1.5% for local currency transactions, but foreign currency transfers still get hit with the full 2%. VAT is also climbing to 15.5% starting next year.
