Taxpayers will have to hold their breath, as the new tax relief measures, which will result in tax refunds for many, are likely to come to fruition only in October.
The measures were announced in the national budget at the beginning of March this year.
During his budget statement in February, finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi said the FY2024/25 budget made provisions to provide tax relief to low-income earners.
“In this regard, we will increase the threshold for income tax on individuals from the current N$50 000 to N$100 000. This action will result in an injection of N$646 million directly into the pockets of taxpayers. Effectively, all individual taxpayers will be exempted from paying tax on the first N$100 000 of their income as from 1 March 2024,” Shiimi said at the time, with many taxpayers breathing a sigh of relief.
During a Cabinet committee briefing on Monday, the minister said tax refunds, backdated to March 2024, will only start being issued, hopefully, from October this year when the new law takes effect.
Updating the nation on his ministry’s operations, Shiimi said the law was first created, it was passed through Cabinet and it is now being reviewed by legal drafters.
Once this is complete, it must then be authorised by the attorney general and Parliament before being signed into law by the President.
Upon enquiry from New Era, deputy executive director in the finance ministry Oscar Capelao yesterday explained that each year, tax rates are proposed by the minister and must be formally approved or amended by Parliament.
“These amendments are currently undergoing a routine but mandatory legislative review process. Once the proposed tax rate adjustments are officially gazetted, they will become effective. Until that time, the existing tax tables remain in effect.
Taxpayers are assured that any overpayment of taxes due to the delay in the implementation of the new tax rates will be refunded as soon as the new rates are gazetted,” Capelao explained.
He added that individual tax tables are always effective from 1 March, which is the start of the tax year.
Changes made to pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) tables during the tax year should be corrected by employers once the new rates are gazetted.
However, employees with minuscule PAYE monthly payments that cannot be refunded by employers will be refunded by the Namibia Revenue Agency.
Explainer
The new measures effectively mean that if an employee earns N$100 000 or less, they will not pay tax on their earnings.
It also means that if an employee earns more than N$100 000, only the amount earned after the initial N$100 000 is taxable.
Shiimi’s tax reform is meant to offer financial relief to taxpayers, most of whom have been struggling to keep up with the rapid escalation in living costs for the last few years.