The Ministry of Finance says during the 2016/17 financial year it will undertake to enhance compliance with the enforcement of tax laws under its revenue management programme.
Under this programme, the ministry undertakes revenue collection from both domestic and inland sources and from international trade through customs and excise duties. The ministry will, therefore, also consider activities aimed at promoting the efficiency of the system of tax administration.
Deputy Minister of Finance Natangue Ithete said this recently during the debate on the 2016 Appropriation Bill in parliament. Public tax education campaigns and awareness, as well as the promotion of voluntary tax compliance are some of the measures to be followed by the ministry to ensure taxes are paid, he noted.
Last year, Cabinet and its committee on legislation approved the Customs and Excise Amendment Bill. A layman’s draft was submitted to the Ministry of Justice for drafting.
Ithete said the ministry continued with the development of its Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) and that the development of functional specifications were completed during the previous financial year. According to him, the testing of this system has already commenced and it is anticipated that the system will be fully operational within the next 12 months.
He said in its continued efforts to bring services closer to the people the ministry decided to establish new satellite tax offices that will be opened in the course of this financial year at Ondangwa, Omuthiya, Nkurenkuru, Opuwo, Khorixas and Omaruru.
The expected outputs of the revenue management programme, Ithete noted, include increased voluntary tax compliance, optimal revenue collection, enhanced efficiency in tax administration through adopted reforms, a streamlined customs framework and trade facilitation at borders.
He announced that in its quest to optimise revenue collection, the ministry would continue to enhance tax audits and investigations and intensify tax education campaigns to promote voluntary compliance with tax laws.
He said this before requesting of amounts N$506 million for 2016/17, N$514.36 million for 2017/18 and N$525.3 million for 2018/19 financial years.