Who is an immigrant?

“Immigrant” means any person who is a resident of Zimbabwe and enters Zimbabwe on return after having resided the outside country for a period of not less than two years or any shorter period as may be approved by the Minister; (Customs and Excise (Suspension) (Amendment) Regulations, 2022 (No. 257) as contained in statutory instrument 10 of 2022

What is a motor vehicle?

Motor Vehicle is defined as a vehicle admissible under Customs Tariff heading Nos. 87.02, 87.03 and 87.04: Provided that—
(i) Tariff heading 87.02 shall not apply to vehicles designed for transport of fifteen or more people, including the driver; and
(ii) Tariff heading 87.04 shall not apply to vehicles whose gross vehicle weight (GVW) exceed five tonne.

Legislation

On 17 January 2022, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development published S.I. 9 of 2022 which inserted the following after subsection 10 of section 105 of the Customs and Excise [General] Regulations, 2001:

(11) A rebate may be granted in terms of this section to any person who has previously resided in Zimbabwe, on returning to Zimbabwe, after having resided outside Zimbabwe only if the person left Zimbabwe for a period of not less than two years or any shorter period in the following cases—

(a) to take up employment on appointment or assignment by the government for not less than six months; or

(b) as a diplomat; or

(c) as part of any government peace-keeping force for not less than six months.

 S.I 10 of 2022 -For the purposes of this section, motor vehicles shall be treated as being owned by an immigrant only if such motor vehicle were in physical existence and fully paid for by the immigrant at least six months before the time of his or her arrival.

 (3) Subject to this section, a suspension of duty may be granted in respect of motor vehicles, imported by an immigrant if such motor vehicles— 

(a)  are shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner to have been owned by such immigrant at least six months before the time of his or her arrival and at the time of their importation; 

 (b) are intended for personal use in Zimbabwe by such immigrant but not for trade or commercial purposes;

 (c) are imported at the time of arrival of such immigrant or at such time as the Commissioner may, in his or her discretion approve;

 (d) have an import value that is not in excess of forty thousand United States dollars.

  (4) No suspension shall be granted in terms of this section in respect of— 

(a) any motor-vehicle imported by an immigrant who is, at the time of his or her arrival, under the age of sixteen years; and 

(b) more than one motor-vehicle imported by an immigrant; and 

 (c) motor vehicles imported for commercial or trade purposes.  

(5) Any suspension under this section shall not be granted more than once during any period of four years.

 (6) Any immigrant to whom a suspension of duty has been granted in terms of this section shall with effect from 1st January, 2022, for a period of 2 years after the granting of the suspension— (a) notify the Commissioner of any change of their residential address within fourteen days of the date of such change; and 

(b) report to the nearest Customs office once every year, failure of which full duty waived at the time of importation shall become due and payable.

My Taxes, My Duties: Building my Zimbabwe!!

Disclaimer

This article was compiled by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority for information purposes only. ZIMRA shall not accept responsibility for loss or damage arising from use of material in this article and no liability will attach to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.