ZRA to Introduce Pre-Filled VAT Returns Using Smart Invoice Data
ZRA pre-filled VAT Returns Bring changes to how business is done in Zambia: The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) is preparing another major change to VAT administration in Zambia: VAT returns will begin pulling transaction information directly from the Smart Invoice system and automatically pre-fill parts of the VAT declaration.
According to a public notice dated 17 August 2026, ZRA will begin piloting the enhanced VAT return filing process on 1 September 2026. The system will initially operate as a pilot before being rolled out to all VAT-registered taxpayers.
The move is significant for businesses already using Smart Invoice because fiscalised transactions will increasingly determine what appears on their VAT return.
“VAT returns will automatically retrieve data from the Smart Invoice system to pre-fill VAT declarations.”
ZRA says the objective is to improve the alignment between VAT returns and actual transaction records while strengthening compliance, accuracy and transparency.
Interestingly, pre-filling VAT returns is not an entirely unexpected development. ZRA’s 2022–2026 Corporate Strategic Plan already lists “Pre-filling of VAT Returns” among its initiatives, alongside further development of Smart Invoice in 2026.
What Will Change for VAT-Registered Businesses?
Currently, businesses typically prepare their VAT information from accounting systems, invoices and other records before declaring the figures through ZRA’s tax systems.
Under the enhanced system, Smart Invoice becomes one of the sources feeding information directly into the VAT return.
ZRA says the pre-filled return is expected to reduce manual data entry while automatically populating sales and import information. The Authority also expects the change to reduce calculation and transcription errors, improve record keeping and strengthen its ability to detect suspicious transactions.
However, pre-filled does not mean automatically correct.
ZRA specifically warns taxpayers that they will still be responsible for checking the information:
“Taxpayers will be required to carefully review and verify the pre-filled information before submitting their VAT return.”
That may turn out to be one of the most important parts of the entire change.
Your Accounting System and Smart Invoice Need to Agree
For businesses using accounting software such as Sage, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and other ERP systems, VAT reconciliation could become even more important.
Imagine that your accounting system shows taxable sales of K1.2 million, but Smart Invoice has only captured K1.1 million. When ZRA pre-fills the return, which figure appears?
The difference could arise from something as simple as an invoice that was posted in the accounting system but never successfully fiscalised through Smart Invoice.
Businesses should therefore begin thinking of VAT reconciliation as involving at least three sets of information:
Accounting records → Smart Invoice records → VAT return
Ideally, all three should reconcile.
Credit Notes Could Be Particularly Important
Credit notes are another area businesses should watch closely.
A credit note recorded correctly in an accounting system must also be properly reflected through Smart Invoice. Otherwise, the taxpayer’s internal VAT report and ZRA’s transaction data could tell two different stories.
The same applies to cancelled invoices, reversals and corrections.
This means accountants should not wait until the VAT return is due before discovering that a transaction appearing in their accounting software is missing, duplicated or incorrectly represented in Smart Invoice.
Foreign Currency Transactions May Need Extra Attention
Businesses issuing invoices in foreign currencies should also pay attention to how exchange rates ultimately affect the figures presented in the pre-filled return.
An ERP system may calculate the Zambian Kwacha equivalent using the exchange rate applicable to the transaction according to its configuration. Smart Invoice records must ultimately produce figures that can be reconciled against those accounting records.
Even relatively small differences become noticeable when there are many transactions.
Businesses dealing heavily in USD invoices should therefore include exchange-rate reconciliation in their VAT review procedures rather than simply checking invoice totals.
Pre-Filled Doesn’t Remove the Accountant
Automation sometimes creates the impression that there will be less work for accountants. In this case, the nature of the work may simply change.
There should be less manual typing of figures into VAT returns, but potentially greater emphasis on verification and reconciliation.
ZRA itself makes this clear. Taxpayers are still responsible for reviewing the information before submission.
A pre-filled return therefore should not be treated as ZRA effectively saying, “These are your numbers, just click submit.”
It is better understood as ZRA saying, “These are the transaction records we have — confirm that they are correct.”
That is an important distinction.
What Businesses Should Start Doing Now
With the pilot scheduled to begin on 1 September 2026, VAT-registered businesses should start strengthening the link between their accounting records and Smart Invoice.
Before filing, businesses should be able to identify invoices appearing in their accounting system but missing from Smart Invoice, Smart Invoice transactions missing from the ERP, incorrectly fiscalised credit notes, duplicate transactions, cancelled invoices and unexplained differences in VAT or transaction values.
This is particularly important for companies using third-party fiscalisation software that sits between their accounting system and ZRA Smart Invoice.
A transaction being successfully posted in the ERP does not necessarily mean that the same transaction was successfully transmitted to Smart Invoice.
Smart Invoice Is Becoming More Than an Invoicing System
The bigger story behind ZRA’s announcement is the direction Zambia’s tax administration is taking.
Smart Invoice is increasingly becoming part of the underlying infrastructure through which ZRA can compare what businesses record internally with what they declare for tax purposes.
Pre-filled VAT returns take that integration another step forward.
ZRA describes the objective simply:
“Your transactions, pre-filled. Your compliance, secured.”
For taxpayers, however, there is another useful way of looking at it: if your accounting records and Smart Invoice records don’t agree, finding out why before submitting the VAT return is about to become much more important.