What every invoice must show
- The words "Fiscal Tax Invoice" in a prominent place, on a document printed by a fiscal device interfaced with ZIMRA's FDMS. Since the Finance Act (No. 7) of 2025 a "tax invoice" in law means exactly this; a manually produced invoice is not one, and the buyer cannot claim input tax or deduct the expense against income tax.
- A QR code readable by a camera or scanner, so the invoice can be authenticated on the FDMS portal at fdms.zimra.co.zw. It must return "Valid" with no errors. Mandatory on invoices from 1 January 2026.
- The taxpayer identification number, also mandatory from 1 January 2026. Where the buyer asks for a fiscal tax invoice you must capture their details in full: buyer name, buyer address, buyer TIN, and buyer VAT number if they are registered.
- The currency of the actual transaction. Tax follows the money: a supply paid for in US dollars is invoiced and the VAT accounted for in US dollars, a supply paid for in ZiG in ZiG. You may not invoice in one currency and settle the tax in the other.
Numbering, keeping and correcting invoices
Keep your books, tax invoices, credit notes, debit notes, bank statements and deposit slips for six years. For records kept in book form the six years run from the last entry in the book; for anything else they run from the completion of the transaction (VAT Act [Chapter 23:12], section 57(1) and (3)). ZIMRA can inspect them at any reasonable time (section 57(2)).
A registered supplier must give the customer a tax invoice within thirty days of the date of supply (section 20(1)). It is unlawful to issue more than one tax invoice for the same supply; if the original is lost, the supplier or customer may supply a copy clearly marked "copy" (section 20(1), provisos (a) and (b)). Each invoice carries its own serial number and the date of issue (section 20(4)(d)).
Do not correct an invoice by writing over it. When a supply is cancelled, returned, or the agreed price changes (for instance a discount), the supplier issues a credit note, or a debit note if the tax charged was too low. A credit note carries the words "credit note" in a prominent place, the date, the recipient's details, a short explanation, and enough detail to identify the original transaction (section 21(3)). It is unlawful to issue more than one credit or debit note for the same excess (section 21(3), proviso A).
Electronic invoicing in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe has real-time fiscalisation rather than a clearance e-invoicing model, and it is mandatory. Every VAT-registered operator must fiscalise and transmit transactions to ZIMRA's Fiscalisation Data Management System (FDMS) as they happen. You can meet this with a hardware fiscal device — an electronic tax register, fiscal printer, signature device or fuel fiscal device — or with virtual fiscalisation, meaning a software virtual fiscal device or your own POS or accounting system integrated to FDMS by API. Since 1 January 2026 the VAT Act's definition of "tax invoice" is itself tied to FDMS, so fiscalisation is no longer a separate compliance chore but the only way to issue a valid invoice. Trading without a device attracts a civil penalty of US$25 per point of sale for each day in default, up to 181 days, after which it is a criminal offence carrying a level seven fine or up to 12 months' imprisonment.