This Bill will repeal and replace the Income Tax Act [Chapter 23:06], which was first enacted. The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) through it's website would like to give it's clients the opportunity to comment on the proposed Bill before it is passed
INCOME TAX BILL, 2012
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
This Bill will repeal and replace the Income Tax Act [Chapter 23:06], which was first enacted in 1967. Among the major changes of principle embodied in this Bill are the following:
the shift from the source-based system income taxation prevails under the existing income tax regime (whereunder tax is levied on income originated or deemed to have in Zimbabwe) to a residence-based one, where under the taxable income of a taxpayer resident in Zimbabwe is the taxpayer’s income from all geographical sources within or outside Zimbabwe;
a clearer distinction is drawn between the different types of income, that is to say, employment income, business income (previously called income from trade) and property income;
a clearer distinction is drawn between deductions from income that are of a technical nature closely related to the production of the income in question and those that are “tax expenditures” (that is, deductions promotive of public policy objectives);
the taxation of certain amounts which, though strictly speaking are capital gains, relate to the disposal of certain property used primarily in the production of income, namely business property and investment property (these are not presently taxable under the Capital Gains Tax, but is contemplated that the provisions latter Act will eventually be merged with those of this Bill if it becomes an Act).
The removal from the body of the Bill of prescribed amounts and formulas wherever possible to separate Schedules, namely the Fourth Schedule (“Miscellaneous Calculations”) and the Ninth Schedule (“Prescription of Various Amounts’)
To abolish the Special Court for Income Tax Appeals while retaining the Fiscal Appeal Court, which will now become the appellate court of first instance for income tax appeals.
Generally, the updating and modernising of outdated terms to take account of contemporary developments in the field of income taxation, such as the changeover to the accrual basis of accounting.
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