DStv subs increase due to VAT introduced by government – Multichoice Zimbabwe

With the introduction of VAT on externally sourced pay-TV services by the Zimbabwean government from January 1 this year, DStv subscriptions are subject to VAT in terms of Finance Act 3 of 2019.

That is according to a communication by Multichoice Zimbabwe.

The company says it has absorbed the cost for five months but it has to pass it on to the subscriber

The business will start charging VAT on its services from 1 June 2020, so it may continue injecting this much-needed revenue into the local economy. This comes at a time when current macro-economic factors require financial authorities to collect revenue from a range of sources, especially when the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is making unprecedented demands on national exchequers.

The result of the mandatory tax and marginal price adjustment is an increase to subscribers in the monthly cost of all DStv bouquets, as well as for add-on services such as DStv Indian and DStv Portuguese and also for DStv packages for corporates and the hospitality industry.

From June 1 the new DStv prices are Lite $8 (from $7), Access $13 (from $11), Family $19 (from $17), Compact $29 (from $25), Compact Plus $45 (from $40), Premium $75 (from $65), HD PVR Premium $88 (from $76); XtraView Access Fee $13 (from $11) and Indian $37 (from $32).

These price adjustments have been kept as low as possible, and in the case of the Lite, Family and Compact Plus packages, the adjustments are less than the prevailing VAT rate of 14.5 percent.

To thank customers for their continued loyalty, the We’ve Got You! Campaign was introduced to give active and disconnected DStv Access, DStv Family, DStv Compact and DStv Compact Plus customers the opportunity to pay for their current package and access all the content on the package above at no extra cost.