Maihapa Ndjavera
Finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi warned that tax does not discriminate and thus urged all Namibian citizens to be compliant and pay tax as required. Shiimi further cautioned those trying to escape and avoid honouring their tax obligations to the revenue agency to be mindful because “it is just a matter of time”.
“NamRA is ramping up their compliance capacity, and days are numbered for those who do not want to pay tax. The government needs revenue to cater for social services in the country,” said Shiimi earlier this month in the National Assembly.
Taxation remains the only practical means of raising revenue to finance government spending on goods and services that citizens demand from government.
In a statement dated 10 May 2023, Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) commissioner Sam Shivute said the agency noticed that several businesses continuously submit zero tax returns, meaning essentially that no profits were recorded for the relevant tax years.
Shivute noted that from 2017 to date, 172 021 zero tax returns were submitted by 56 881 taxpayers or businesses in respect of income tax, while 16 001 taxpayers tendered 138 245 zero tax returns for value-added tax (VAT) for the same period.
“NamRA acknowledges that there are valid reasons for submitting zero tax returns. However, we have detected those certain businesses evade tax by declaring zero tax returns, despite continuing to trade and making profits, in some instances securing multi-million-dollar tenders from the government and public enterprises,” Shivute stressed.
The commissioner stated NamRA is now establishing an investigative team as of 1 July 2023 to determine the validity of the submitted zero tax returns. Shivute further urged the culprits to contact NamRA offices to revise their returns and make payments where applicable or make payment arrangements on or before 30 June 2023.
“In the event that no revision is made by the taxpayer by the end of June 2023 and an audit establishes that there are amounts owing in respect of the various taxes, NamRA will then invoke the applicable recovery framework, which amongst others includes the appointment of their party agents and litigation,” warned Shivute. Since its inception two years ago, the revenue collection entity has been hard at work in ensuring government collects all applicable tax revenue. The agency recorded remarkable revenue collection for the past financial year, leading the finance minister to table a ballooned national budget for the 2023/24 financial year. NamRA surpassed its revenue collection target for the 2022/23 financial year by N$4 billion. Last year, the State revenue collector was required to bring in N$53 billion in what was seen as an ambitious target then, but exceeded this and collected a total of N$57 billion. The agency now has a tax revenue target of N$68 billion for FY2023/24.