Split Salaries: When You're Paid in Both USD and ZiG

Being paid partly in US dollars and partly in ZiG (Zimbabwe Gold) has become common in Zimbabwe's formal sector, and it makes payslips genuinely more complicated — because the two currencies are taxed under two different sets of rules.

The foundation to understand is that Zimbabwe publishes separate PAYE tax tables for USD and for ZiG, and they aren't conversions of one another — the ZiG tables move with inflation while the USD ones stay fixed across the year. You're taxed in the currency you're paid in. So if your pay is split, each portion is generally assessed under its own currency's tables.

This has a few practical consequences. Your USD portion is taxed on the USD tables (which our calculator covers), and your ZiG portion on the ZiG tables. The two are then considered together for your overall tax position. Because the ZiG figures change more often, the ZiG side of a split salary is more prone to being calculated on outdated tables if an employer hasn't updated their payroll promptly.

If your pay is split, the single most useful thing you can do is ask your payroll department to show you how each portion is taxed — which currency's tables, at what point NSSA and the AIDS levy are applied, and whether they're on the current tables. It's not that split pay is taxed unfairly; it's that the moving parts multiply, and understanding them helps you check your own payslip.

Our calculator currently covers the USD tables, which handles the USD portion of a split salary. A ZiG calculator is planned, and when it's ready we'll be able to help with both sides.

This is general information, not tax advice. To calculate the USD portion of your pay, use the calculator. ZiG support is coming.