How to Read a Zimbabwean Payslip (USD)

A Zimbabwean payslip carries a few things that payslips elsewhere don't — most notably the AIDS levy and, for many workers, the question of which currency each line is in. Here's how to read one paid in US dollars.

Start with gross pay — your total earnings before deductions: basic salary plus any allowances or overtime. This is the figure the tax tables work from.

Then the deductions. PAYE is your income tax, worked out from ZIMRA's USD tax tables. NSSA is your 4.5% social security contribution (capped once your insurable earnings pass USD 700 a month). And you'll see the AIDS levy — a small extra 3%, charged not on your salary but on your PAYE, which many people don't realise is a separate line. You may also have medical aid, pension, or other deductions specific to your employer.

The order matters in Zimbabwe: NSSA is deducted before your PAYE is calculated, so you're not taxed on the portion that goes to NSSA. That's why the numbers don't simply add up in a straight line — the NSSA comes off first, then tax is worked out on what remains.

Your net pay is what's left after all of it. To check whether your PAYE and NSSA look right on a USD salary, run your gross through our calculator. If your payslip differs, the usual reasons are an employer still using older tax tables, additional deductions the calculator doesn't know about, or part of your pay being in ZiG rather than USD — which uses a different set of tables entirely.

This is general information, not tax advice. To check your USD PAYE, NSSA and take-home pay, use the calculator.