Windhoek
Agricultural land owners who have not yet submitted their postal addresses for tax purposes to the Ministry of Land Reform can face fines of up to N$20 000 or a jail sentence of five years, or both.
The Namibian Agricultural Union (NAU) on Friday urged farm owners to provide the ministry with their postal addresses in terms of the revised Act on Land Reform No 19 of 2003, to avoid such hefty fines.
In a media release, the Ministry of Land Reform made a final request to farmers to provide the vital information and made it clear that it is the landowner’s responsibility to ensure that he/she receives his/her land tax assessment via the post.
A list was also published of agricultural landowners who have not yet provided their postal addresses and they have been warned that neglecting to provide the information to the ministry will be seen as a way of trying to avoid land tax.
The Ministry of Land Reform already posted land tax assessments for the 2015/16 financial year to all taxable agricultural landowners on March 31 this year. Farmers who have not provided the ministry with their postal addresses thus have to collect their tax assessments themselves and provide the ministry with their postal addresses.
The ministry also made a final request to such farmers to provide the information by handing in a data form so that they can pay their taxes on or before July 29.
The forms can be collected from the ministry’s regional offices in Mariental, Oshakati, Otjiwarongo, Tsumeb, Swakopmund, Gobabis, Rundu, Otapi, Eenhana, Katima Mulilo, Opuwo and Keetmanshoop. The address of the ministry’s valuator-general will be provided on the forms and the forms must be posted to that address.
The ministry made it clear that agricultural landowners who do not provide the information will be faced with a fine of up to N$20 000 or imprisonment of five years, or both.