FINANCE rate of interest) (Amendment) Rules, 2025 (No. 27)
Interest on unpaid mining royalties is set at the Bank Policy Rate plus 5% for local currency and a flat 10% for foreign currency, with royalties in kind attracting interest in kind.
The Minister of Finance has, under section 37A of the Finance Act, fixed the rate of interest that runs on unpaid royalties under paragraph 7(4) of the Thirty-Seventh Schedule to the Income Tax Act.
For each month or part of a month that royalties remain unpaid or overpaid, interest is charged at the Bank Policy Rate as revised from time to time, plus five per cent above that rate, where the royalties are in local currency; and at ten per cent where they are in foreign currency.
Where royalties are payable in kind — as they are for some mineral producers — interest on the unpaid amount is likewise payable in kind, calculated at the same rates.
The notice matters to miners settling royalties late, and cuts both ways: the same rates apply to overpaid royalties, so a producer that has overpaid earns interest on the same basis.
What changed
- Interest on unpaid or overpaid royalties in local currency is the Bank Policy Rate plus 5%
- Interest on unpaid or overpaid royalties in foreign currency is 10%
- Interest on royalties payable in kind is itself payable in kind at the same rates
Who this affects
- Mining companies paying royalties to ZIMRA
- Producers paying royalties in kind
- Tax advisers and mine accountants
- ZIMRA revenue officers
Plain-language summary — not legal advice. Always read the full instrument.