Zambian Taxpayers Fund 70 Percent of Govt Expenditure

ZRA funds 70 Percent Plus to Government’s Expenditure

 

By Kalata News

 

Lusaka, September, 2025 – THE ZAMBIA Revenue Authority (ZRA) has in the last three years increased its funding towards Government’s expenditure by more than 70 per cent.

According to a report by ZRA Commissioner General, Dingani Banda to a Minister’s Town Hall Meeting, ZRA has gradually being increasing their fair share of revenue collected against their expected revenue.

The report says the share of ZRA revenue contribution to National Budget has progressively increased to 71.7 per cent in 2025 from 55.7 per cent in 2020.

ZRA target has nominally increased by an annual average of 21.3 per cent from K58.7 billion in 2020 to K155.7 billion (19.1 per cent) in 2025.

 

According to the report, during 2024, ZRA was above target by K5.5billion or 4.5 per cent, driven by the strong performance of VAT on imports, K8.4 billion or 37.1 per cent above target, Withholding Tax of K2.4 billion or 21.7 per cent above target and Mineral Royalty Tax of K1.5billion or 15.3 per cent above target.

ZRA top three revenue contributors include Value added tax (VAT) followed by pay as you earn (PAYE) and withholding tax. Others are non-mining company tax, mineral royalty tax, customs duty and mining company tax.

“During 2024, net collections were K30.2 billion higher than collected in2023. Most tax types recorded higher collections in 2024 except domestic VAT, Motor Vehicle Fees, Local Excise Cement, Carbon Tax, and Local Fuel Levy. Domestic VAT was lower in 2024 by K61.3 million (0.6 per cent) compared to 2023, mainly due to: General reduction in economic activity (consumption) in 2024 on account of increased load shading,” says the ZRA Report.

The top five sectors contributed 69.3 per cent in 2024 collections to of YTD gross compared 71.8 per cent in the corresponding period of 2023, indicating increased diversification of the tax base. These top contributors were Mining and Quarrying, Wholesale and Retail, Manufacturing, Financial and Insurance and Public Administration and Defence.

“As at end-2024, a total of 26,329taxpayers were registered on the system, out of which 13,698 were VAT registered. Effective1st January2025, input tax deductions for VAT will be restricted to transactions from invoices issued through the Smart Invoice system, except for approved invoices from tax payers exempted by Law. To date, a total of 27,271 taxpayers have been registered on Smart Invoice with a total invoice value of K266.3 billion,” says the Report.