Zimbabwe is unusual in having two parallel sets of PAYE tax tables — one for salaries paid in US dollars, and one for salaries paid in ZiG (Zimbabwe Gold). This trips up a lot of people, so here's the plain version.
The rule is straightforward: you're taxed in the currency you're paid in. If your salary is in USD, ZIMRA's USD tables apply. If it's in ZiG, the ZiG tables apply.
What surprises people is how closely the two are related. ZIMRA publishes them as separate tables, but the ZiG table is simply the USD table multiplied by 28 — in effect, it counts one US dollar as 28 ZiG. Every band lines up. The first USD 100 a month is tax-free, and so is the first ZiG 2,800. The 20% band runs to USD 300, or ZiG 8,400. The 25% band runs to USD 1,000, or ZiG 28,000; 30% to USD 2,000, or ZiG 56,000; 35% to USD 3,000, or ZiG 84,000; and anything above that is taxed at 40% in both. The fixed amount you subtract at each step is 28 times bigger too: 560 instead of 20, 980 instead of 35, and so on up to 9,380 instead of 335.
ZIMRA's own example shows it working. Someone earning ZiG 18,000 a month is in the 25% band, so their PAYE is 18,000 × 25%, minus 980, which comes to ZiG 3,520 before the 3% AIDS levy. Divide every number by 28 and the USD table gives the same answer, just in dollars.
The ZiG table was published for 2025, and the 2025 Finance Act, which set this year's tax rules, left it unchanged for 2026. So the figures are fixed for the whole year — they don't move with inflation or with the exchange rate. That's worth knowing, because the table assumes 28 ZiG to the dollar, while the rate at your bank may not be exactly that. When the two differ, a ZiG salary and a USD salary that are worth the same in practice can land in slightly different places on the tables, and so pay slightly different tax.
Where it gets more involved is split salaries — increasingly common in Zimbabwe, where someone might be paid, say, part in USD and part in ZiG. In that case each portion is generally taxed under its own currency's tables, and the amounts are combined for your overall position. If your pay is split, it's worth confirming with your payroll department exactly how they're applying the tables, because the treatment affects your total tax.
For most formal-sector employees on a straight USD salary, the USD tables are all you need — and that's what this calculator covers. If you're paid in ZiG, hold tight: a ZiG version is coming. In the meantime, the principle above tells you which set of rules governs your payslip.
This is general information, not tax advice. To calculate a USD salary now, use the calculator. ZiG support is coming soon.