WINDHOEK – The recruitment process for the new Namibia Revenue Agency (Namra), which is expected to improve government’s revenue collection, will commence over the coming months, ahead of its launch on 1 October 2019.
Namra was expected to be operational at least by March this year but the operational date was pushed to October.
In 2017, Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein tabled the Namra Bill, aimed to pave the way for the creation of the independent agency that will assess and collect taxes.
At the time, he said 730 officials from the Inland Revenue department and 650 from the directorate of customs will have to re-apply for their jobs when the new agency becomes operational.
The board of directors was already inaugurated in December 2018 and is currently developing internal policies and operational readiness activities.
Anna Nakale-Kawana who is deputised by Stefan Hugo leads the Namra board. The other board directors are Shirene Bampton, Melania Tjienda and Dennis Khama. Ministry of Finance executive director Ericah Shafudah also forms part of the board of directors.
Schlettwein revealed the new developments on the recruitment process during the tabling of the 2019/20 national budget recently, when he announced the structural policy reforms which have become operational in broad areas of the economy.
During the last four years, Schlettwein said government have also utilised domestic policy space and brought about structural policy reforms to strengthen resilience and enhance domestic productive and institutional capacity.
Last year, an Integrated Tax Administration System, aimed at delivering solutions for online filing and online self-assessment, was rolled out,.
The primary mandate of the new revenue agency is to assess, collect taxes and duty on behalf of the state and administer tax, customs and excise laws.
The Namra board will assist the minister in ensuring that the performance of the agency is optimal through monitoring and enforcement of performance targets, as well as adherence to corporate ethics.
Namra is expected to tighten the country’s tax system loopholes, as official figures for 2017/2018 show that government is owed N$2.59 billion in main taxes as only N$1.3 billion was collected from taxes during the same period.
The revenue agency, which is being benchmarked against the revenue agencies of South Africa, Swaziland and Mauritius, is set to replace the current Inland Revenue in the Ministry of Finance.
The current Inland Revenue is deemed to have loopholes, which led to government missing out on tax income.