The network covers Zambia within the Southern Africa region. Payslips there are drawn up in ZMW, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in English.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Lusaka, Kitwe, Ndola, Livingstone.
The country lies outside the European Union and outside the European Economic Area: the A1 certificate has no standing there. Whether the employee remains in the scheme of origin then depends on the bilateral social security agreement, if any, concluded with the sending country; where no such agreement exists, dual affiliation must be expected and budgeted into the assignment.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Zambia, running payroll on behalf of third parties is a regulated activity. It is carried on under the title of Chartered Accountant / Licentiate — ZICA member in public practice, and a registration in force must be produced to you before any engagement.
L'Accountants Act n° 13 de 2008 fait de l'exercice public de la comptabilité — ce qui englobe la tenue de comptabilité et les services de paie facturés à des tiers — une activité réservée aux membres de ZICA titulaires d'un practising certificate en cours de validité, exerçant au sein d'un cabinet enregistré auprès de l'institut. Exercer sans certificat est une infraction pénale. La paie proprement dite (calcul PAYE, NAPSA, NHIMA) n'a pas de licence spécifique en plus.
Zambia belongs to the common law tradition: employment is codified in a general statute, but the written contract and established company practice carry more weight than in a civil law country. English is the official language and the language of contracts and payslips alike, which considerably simplifies dealings with a foreign client. Wages are settled in kwacha, a floating currency; the country belongs to no monetary union.
Three separate bodies levy contributions on wages: the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA), the National Health Insurance Management Authority (NHIMA) and the Workers' Compensation Fund Control Board (WCFCB). Income tax is withheld at source by the employer and remitted to the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA).
One further point shapes everything: public practice in accountancy, which covers payroll billed to third parties, is reserved to members of the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (ZICA) holding a practising certificate.
The TPIN, the taxpayer identification number, is the unavoidable gateway: without it there is no bank, no register and no fund.
Registration with the three contribution bodies and the opening of a tax file are made in the name of a legal person or a registered trader; there is no route allowing contributions from abroad without a local presence. Whether a Zambian entity is required is therefore settled before any commitment is made.
NAPSA, NHIMA and the WCFCB each take a separate enrolment. None of these registrations covers the other two, and the way a local provider handles all three is the first real test of its competence.
Written and given to the employee, the contract is subject to rules governing categories, probation and fixed-term engagements; prolonged reliance on casual arrangements is viewed with suspicion by inspectors.
PAYE withheld, employee contributions and employer contributions all appear on the payslip. Filings are monthly and the ZRA operates through an online portal.
Bereavement leave, maternity and paternity leave, housing or transport obligations in certain sectors, a gratuity on termination whose mechanics depend on the type of contract: Zambian law imposes matters a European employer does not always anticipate. Handle termination with local advice, particularly where several employees are involved.
The network asks 8 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Zambia. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 8 documents, 8 are required of every applicant and 5 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Incorporation + Certificate of Share Capital (ou Business Name Registration Certificate)Certificate of Incorporation and Certificate of Share Capital Le certificat de constitution ne périme pas ; y joindre un « company search / printout » récent de PACRA, qui montre les administrateurs et actionnaires actuels et si les annual returns sont à jour. Un cabinet exploité en nom propre présentera un Business Name Registration Certificate, à renouveler annuellement. | PACRA — Patents and Companies Registration Agency (Companies Act n° 10 de 2017) | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Taxpayer Identification Number (TPIN) — Taxpayer Registration Certificate ; le cas échéant VAT Registration CertificateTaxpayer Identification Number certificate and VAT registration certificate Le TPIN à 10 chiffres est l'identifiant pivot de toute démarche zambienne (banque, PACRA, NAPSA). L'inscription à la TVA n'est requise qu'au-delà du seuil de chiffre d'affaires ; un cabinet de paie peut légitimement ne pas être assujetti. | Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC)Tax Clearance Certificate Délivré en ligne depuis TaxOnline II, il court en principe jusqu'à la fin de l'année civile en cours. C'est la pièce standard exigée en Zambie pour tout marché ou renouvellement de licence : son absence signale presque toujours des déclarations en retard. | Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| NAPSA Certificate of Registration / compliance certificate + NHIMA compliance certificate + Workers' Compensation (WCFCB) certificateNAPSA, NHIMA and Workers' Compensation Fund compliance certificates Trois organismes distincts collectent des cotisations employeur en Zambie : NAPSA (retraite, 5 % + 5 %), NHIMA (santé, 1 % + 1 %) et le WCFCB (accidents du travail, à la charge exclusive de l'employeur). Demander les trois : c'est aussi le meilleur test de la maîtrise réelle de la paie zambienne par le candidat. | National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA), National Health Insurance Management Authority (NHIMA), Workers' Compensation Fund Control Board (WCFCB) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Professional Indemnity Insurance certificate (exigée par ZICA pour les practising members)Professional indemnity insurance certificate ZICA subordonne la délivrance et le renouvellement du practising certificate à la production d'une assurance de responsabilité civile professionnelle : pour un cabinet en exercice public, l'attestation est donc bien une obligation réglementaire et pas seulement contractuelle. | Assureur agréé par la Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) ; contrôle par ZICA au titre du practising certificate | 12 months Required | Official website |
| ZICA Practising Certificate (catégorie Non-Audit Practice ou Audit Practice) + Firm registrationZICA practising certificate and registered accountancy firm status L'Accountants Act réserve l'exercice public de la comptabilité aux membres de ZICA titulaires d'un practising certificate, le cabinet lui-même devant être enregistré. ZICA distingue « Audit Practice » et « Non-Audit Practice » : un prestataire de paie relève au minimum de la seconde. Vérifier le nom dans l'annuaire public « Find a ZICA Registered Accountant ». | Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (ZICA) — Accountants Act n° 13 de 2008 | 12 months Required | Official website |
| National Registration Card (NRC) ou passeport du director / partner signataireNational Registration Card or passport of the signing director PACRA identifie les administrateurs par leur NRC ou leur numéro de passeport : contrôler que le signataire figure bien comme director dans le company printout PACRA. | Department of National Registration, Passport and Citizenship | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Registration as a data controller / data processor — Data Protection Act n° 3 de 2021Data controller / processor registration under the Data Protection Act 2021 La loi zambienne de 2021 impose un enregistrement auprès du Data Protection Commissioner (avec certificat et licence renouvelables) et encadre les transferts hors de Zambie. Point à traiter explicitement si des données de paie françaises doivent y être hébergées. | Office of the Data Protection Commissioner — Ministry of Technology and Science | 12 months Required | Official website |
Social fragmentation is the most disconcerting feature. A NAPSA certificate says nothing about NHIMA or the WCFCB: three bodies, three bases, three calendars. An employer tracking only pensions will find itself in default on health cover or on workplace accidents.
The Zambian statute of 2021 requires registration with the data protection commissioner and regulates transfers out of the country. Settle this before the first payroll file is sent, not afterwards, since a transfer already made cannot be undone by a later filing.
Remote verification, by contrast, works better here than almost anywhere else: the public ZICA directory identifies a firm and its responsible partner by name, and the companies register supports an online search. The one trap is the tax clearance certificate, whose validity is aligned on the calendar year rather than on its date of issue.
La Zambie est l'un des pays où le contrôle est le plus simple à faire à distance : l'annuaire public de ZICA permet de vérifier nominativement le cabinet et son associé responsable, et PACRA permet un company search en ligne. Le piège local est la fragmentation sociale : NAPSA, NHIMA et WCFCB sont trois organismes séparés, et une attestation NAPSA seule ne prouve rien sur les deux autres. Attention aussi au Tax Clearance Certificate, qui expire à la fin de l'année civile : en début d'année, un TCC de l'exercice précédent circule encore et n'a plus de valeur.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Zambia, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Zambia has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
In Zambia the title that counts is ZICA member in public practice, holding a practising certificate and attached to a firm registered with the institute: practising without it is a criminal offence. We check the firm in the public ZICA directory, then ask for the certificate of incorporation and a recent companies register search, the current year's tax clearance certificate, all three NAPSA, NHIMA and WCFCB certificates, and the professional indemnity cover the institute requires. Data protection registration completes the file.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Zambia yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in ZambiaMobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Zambia.