Lobby group asks for tax amnesty extension
Lobby group Tax Talk Namibia is petitioning the Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) to extend the tax amnesty programme that ends this month.
The lobby group said while a deadline had been set, the revenue agency has not made an effort to address tax matters of concern.
“The tax amnesty programme is ending 31 October 2024. NamRA has time to send daily reminders, emails and social media campaign posts about the deadline, but the main source of delays is not addressed,” the lobby group said.
“Revisions are still ongoing due to a large amount of returns to be revised by NamRA officials. The delay is not on the taxpayer's side; it is on NamRA’s side due to insufficient planning systems, limited officials and inadequate customer feedback. Most revisions are a result of ETX data not captured or assessed correctly on the Integrated Tax Administration System (Itas),” it added.
The lobby group added that in some cases “PAYE5 certificates lost or not provided by some employers. These employers do not respond to employees’ requests, which results in the taxpayer not being able to submit outstanding returns. NamRA does not have an enforcement policy in place to assist taxpayers with uncooperative employers.”
Lack of services
Audits were also not concluded with regards to ensuring taxpayers were complying with filling in their taxes.
“Audits on returns are still pending due to the large amount of audits to be done. Approved revisions are automatically converted to “to be audited” returns. Audits are delayed due to limited officials, inadequate customer feedback or time constraints on NamRA’s side,” the group said.
“Taxpayers do not have a direct communication line with the revision, audit or recovery departments. Phone calls and emails are not answered. Contact details of all officials with the tax number section range allocated to them should be published and updated on a regular basis on the website,” they added.
The group also pointed out a lack of a NamRA policy for resolving revisions and audits.
“NamRA does not have clear and precise procedures in place on revisions and audits. The procedures are changed on a regular basis and not communicated with taxpayers. NamRA should implement a nationwide detailed standard procedure on revisions and audits for all offices and departments.”
The lobby group said while a deadline had been set, the revenue agency has not made an effort to address tax matters of concern.
“The tax amnesty programme is ending 31 October 2024. NamRA has time to send daily reminders, emails and social media campaign posts about the deadline, but the main source of delays is not addressed,” the lobby group said.
“Revisions are still ongoing due to a large amount of returns to be revised by NamRA officials. The delay is not on the taxpayer's side; it is on NamRA’s side due to insufficient planning systems, limited officials and inadequate customer feedback. Most revisions are a result of ETX data not captured or assessed correctly on the Integrated Tax Administration System (Itas),” it added.
The lobby group added that in some cases “PAYE5 certificates lost or not provided by some employers. These employers do not respond to employees’ requests, which results in the taxpayer not being able to submit outstanding returns. NamRA does not have an enforcement policy in place to assist taxpayers with uncooperative employers.”
Lack of services
Audits were also not concluded with regards to ensuring taxpayers were complying with filling in their taxes.
“Audits on returns are still pending due to the large amount of audits to be done. Approved revisions are automatically converted to “to be audited” returns. Audits are delayed due to limited officials, inadequate customer feedback or time constraints on NamRA’s side,” the group said.
“Taxpayers do not have a direct communication line with the revision, audit or recovery departments. Phone calls and emails are not answered. Contact details of all officials with the tax number section range allocated to them should be published and updated on a regular basis on the website,” they added.
The group also pointed out a lack of a NamRA policy for resolving revisions and audits.
“NamRA does not have clear and precise procedures in place on revisions and audits. The procedures are changed on a regular basis and not communicated with taxpayers. NamRA should implement a nationwide detailed standard procedure on revisions and audits for all offices and departments.”
