Before you start

A valid permit or other lawful status
Employer registration for PAYE
A Bulawayo address for the council account

Step-by-step

1
Establish which PAYE table applies
ZIMRA maintains a ZWG table and a foreign-currency table. Its guidance for salaries with both local and USD components is to use the USD tables and apportion. If your offer is in dollars, so is your tax table.
Via employerWho: Your employer
2
Know the USD scale
On ZIMRA's most recently published foreign-currency monthly table — January to December 2025 — the first US$100 is free, then 20% to US$300, 25% to US$1,000, 30% to US$2,000, 35% to US$3,000 and 40% above. Annually the top band starts at US$36,001, and a 3% AIDS levy is added to the tax due. Check the year on the table before you model anything.
Via employerWho: Your employer
3
Budget the transfer tax
ZIMRA's published rate is 2 cents in the local-currency dollar and 1 cent in the US dollar on money moved electronically, capped at US$10,150 for transactions above US$500,000. It lands on rent, deposits and large one-off payments rather than on income.
OnlineWho: You
4
Open your Bulawayo City Council account
Rates, water and refuse are billed by the council, which runs its own payments portal, an EcoCash channel and an online balance checker. This is the bill that genuinely differs between Zimbabwean cities.
OnlineWho: You
5
Watch for the water utility change
The council has announced its intention to establish a separate, 100% council-owned water and sanitation utility, with ward-level consultation under way. When that lands, water billing separates from the rates account — worth knowing before your bill changes shape.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport and permit
Employment contract stating the currency of pay
Bank or mobile money details
Proof of Bulawayo address for the council account

Things most newcomers don’t know

Do not go looking for a Bulawayo tax rate. There isn't one.

Newcomers arriving from federal countries assume a city or provincial income tax layer. Zimbabwe has none — PAYE, VAT and the transfer tax are all national. The only genuinely local charge is the municipal bill, and confusing the two leads people to over-model their costs.

Source: ZIMRA — Pay As You Earn

The council bill is where the water crisis reaches your bank account.

Bulawayo City Council raises rates, water and refuse charges itself, and it is simultaneously running a rotating shedding programme and setting up a separate water utility. Your municipal account is the place those two facts meet, so read the bill rather than paying it on standing order.

Source: Bulawayo City Council — notices and payments

The two ZIMRA tables are the honest answer to 'what currency is Zimbabwe'.

A revenue authority that maintains a parallel US dollar PAYE scale, and tells employers to default to it when pay is mixed, is describing an economy that runs on dollars. That is why the cost figures for this city are in dollars and not in ZiG.

Source: ZIMRA — PAYE explained

The transfer tax is why cash still moves in Bulawayo.

IMTT is charged on electronic movement of money. Combined with an economy where a large share of household income arrives as cross-border remittances, it is a substantial reason cash transactions persist here more visibly than in the capital.

Source: ZIMRA — Public Notice 9 of 2024, Finance Act 13 of 2023 highlights

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming a Bulawayo salary is taxed differently from a Harare one — it is not.
Forgetting the 3% AIDS levy on the tax due when modelling net pay.
Paying a council bill without checking what the water line actually covers during a shedding programme.
Making a large electronic transfer without pricing the transfer tax.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.