Zambia Withholding tax rates
Zambia Withholding tax rates: no single figure applies. The reason is set out below, cited to the governing instrument. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
Zambia domestic statutory withholding tax rates on payments to non-residents under the Income Tax Act, Chapter 323 of the Laws of Zambia (dividends s 81, non-resident contractors s 81A, interest/royalties/management fees etc. s 82A, with rates in paragraph 7 of the Charging Schedule), as amended most recently by the Income Tax (Amendment) Acts No. 10 and No. 17 of 2025 with effect from 1 January 2026. Administered by the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA).
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What this value means
THERE IS NO SINGLE WITHHOLDING TAX RATE, WHICH IS WHY value IS NULL. Zambia levies withholding tax at rates that depend on the character of the payment (dividends, interest, royalties, management or consultancy fees, commissions, public entertainment fees, payments to non-resident construction/haulage contractors, branch profit distributions), with a heavily incentivised dividend head carrying several 0% categories. A caller wanting a number must name which payment type; read withholding_rates rather than expecting a headline figure. ALL RATES ARE DOMESTIC STATUTORY RATES, BEFORE TREATY RELIEF. A double-tax agreement can reduce any of them — the ZRA leaflet itself notes 'Where the income is covered under any of the Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs) that Zambia has signed, then the applicable withholding tax rate will apply.' We do NOT serve treaty rates: they are bilateral, depend on the recipient's residence, beneficial ownership and shareholding, and applying one is a legal determination rather than a lookup (ZRA requires advance clearance to apply treaty relief). ZAMBIA-SPECIFIC CAVEATS. (1) The non-resident rate is uniformly 20% across the main heads and is generally the FINAL tax for non-residents (dividends, royalties, management/consultancy fees, commissions, public entertainment fees, non-resident contractors), except that WHT on payments to a non-resident contractor whose income is deemed Zambian-source under s 28 is expressly 'not a final tax' (Practice Note No. 1/2026). (2) RENT: there is NO tenant withholding on rent — the pre-2022 10% rent WHT was abolished with effect from 1 January 2022; rental income is instead taxed on the LANDLORD under the turnover-style rental income tax (from 1 January 2026: 0% up to K30,000 per annum, 4% above K30,000 up to K800,000, 12.5% above K800,000 — Practice Note No. 1/2026: 'This amendment increases the rental income taxable at 0% to K30,000 from K12,000 per annum'). (3) The 0% dividend categories (mining companies, LuSE-listed dividends paid to individuals, various Zambia Development Agency incentive holders) are keyed to the PAYER's status, not the recipient's residence, so they can benefit non-residents. (4) 'Royalty' includes payments for the use of commercial, industrial or scientific equipment, so operating-lease/equipment-hire income is subject to royalty WHT (finance leases excluded). (5) The 2026 amendment raised WHT on Treasury Bill and Government bond interest to 20% from 15% for both residents and non-residents, aligning it with the general non-resident interest rate. (6) WHT returns and payment are due by the 14th day after the month of the transaction, triggered by the earlier of payment or accrual.
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/zm/withholding-tax
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/zm/withholding-tax/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/zm/withholding-taxOther Zambia series: Bank of Zambia Policy Rate · VAT standard rate · VAT registration threshold · Statutory minimum wages by category (no single national rate) · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Company income tax standard rate · Statutory late-payment interest · Personal income tax (PAYE) bands · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · all 34