Employers should submit employee tax excel sheets

The due date for submission of individual income tax returns has been extended from 30 June to 30 September 2020.The ministry of finance (MoF) indicated that the extensions will allow all employers to submit their employee tax excel sheets from March 2019 to date on the Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS), as well as promote the registration and usage of online filing by taxpayers.ImportanceThe payroll information submitted by the employers on the excel sheet will be used by MoF as a control check on the individual income tax returns of the employees. The information inserted by the employee on their income tax returns will revert to the information on the employer excel sheet. This is a control to prevent employees from not disclosing all income and in this way commit fraud.Where an employer has not submitted the excel sheet for March 2019 to February 2020 on ITAS and an individual submits his/her 2020 annual income tax return, the individual’s income tax return will be assessed incorrectly and in most cases will reflect a tax amount due and payable by the individual since it cannot verify the PAYE (pay as you earn) withheld by the employer.Where an employer has submitted the excel sheet on ITAS, it is important for the individual to disclose the amounts on his/her PAYE 5 certificate in the fields on their income tax return that correspond with the fields used by the employer. ExampleFor example, the employer disclosed the vehicle allowance on their excel sheet under the column “Vehicle running expense allowance”. On submission by the individual of his/her income tax return, he/she includes the amount under “Vehicle purchase allowance”. The assessment of that income tax return will now include the vehicle allowance twice using the amount disclosed by the individual and pulling through the amount disclosed by the employer on the excel sheet. This will result in a tax amount due and payable.Any differences on assessments will need to be resolved with the recoveries department of the respective Inland Revenue office where the individual is registered. An objection to assessment would need to be filed with the Inland Revenue department with the necessary document supporting the objection.What if the employer does not have the tax (TIN) numbers of the employees?If no PAYE was withheld from the employee due to the employee not earning taxable income above the threshold, ITAS now accepts ID numbers in lieu of TIN numbers.If PAYE was withheld from the employee, Inland Revenue and ITAS have no work-around on this. The employee needs to register at Inland Revenue and supply the employer with his/her TIN number to allow the employer to submit the excel sheet and as such the individual to file his/her income tax return.Should taxpayers face challenges in using ITAS or uploading the designated excel spreadsheet for employee tax returns, the ITAS helpdesk can be contacted via telephone at +264 61 289 4000 or via email at itas@mof.gov.na or you can visit the ITAS Portal Office on the 2nd floor of the Ministry of Finance, Head office building.* Riana Esterhuyse is associate director in tax at PwC Namibia.

Employers should submit employee tax excel sheets

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-18

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Employers should submit employee tax excel sheets

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-18

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