Tax defaulters urged to pay

Finance minister Calle Schlettwein has urged tax defaulters to pay outstanding taxes before the 31 July deadline.
Ogone Tlhage
Finance minister Calle Schlettwein is worried that there has been a poor response to a tax scheme that was recently introduced to help taxpayers who had fallen behind with their payments.

He has expressed disappointment that only a small number had responded to calls to pay their outstanding taxes.

“We are worried that the take-up is very slow. The total outstanding bill that we have calculated to be due was N$4 billion. What has been taken up is just over N$200 million,” Schlettwein said last week.

He encouraged defaulters to make use of the payment scheme.

“There is a worry that the taxpayer did not fully embrace the scheme. We want to call upon taxpayers to make use of this payment scheme,” Schlettwein said.

He warned defaulters that the government would be forced to use unpopular methods which, he stressed, was not the intention.

“When the 31st of July comes, the picture will be very different, you will force the taxman's hand to get what it is due. Those methods can be very rough and we don't want to go there. If push comes to shove, that is where we are headed,” Schlettwein said.

“Only N$242 million has been collected to date. It is far below expectation,” he said.

“The incentive programme for the payment of tax, write-off of a portion of the interest and waiver of penalties took effect from 1 February 2017 and ends on 31 July 2017. Payment of the full tax amount and 20% interest must be made no later than 31 July 2017 for one to benefit from the incentive programme,” Schlettwein announced at its launch.

According to Schlettwein, no amount of the outstanding tax will be waived.

Schlettwein said in December 2016 that N$19 billion was owed to the state dating back to Independence. N$4 billion is made up of principal while the remainder is made up of penalties, interest and interest on interest.

The incentive programme applies to income tax, value-added tax, value-added tax import, employee tax, stamp duties and non-resident shareholder tax.

“All individuals, businesses, companies, close corporations and other entities with outstanding debt on their tax accounts may apply to participate in the incentive programme. Payments must be made in instalments over a maximum period of six months, last instalment which must be made on 31 July 2017. Only once the full principal tax amount and 20% of interest are paid, will the remaining 80% portion of interest and all penalties be waived.

In order to determine the correct amount of tax owed, he advised defaulters to fill in outstanding tax returns.

“Taxpayers who fail to apply to the Ministry of Finance to have a portion of the interest written off during the period allocated will forfeit this benefit when the incentive programme lapses. The ministry will then enforce its collection mandate against taxpayers as if the programme was never introduced,” the minister warned.

Please note that this is a one-off programme,” he said.

The bank details for the settlement of taxes are as follows: Bank of Namibia, account name: Receiver of Revenue, account number: 165011 and branch code: 980-172.

OGONE TLHAGE

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Namibian Sun 2024-03-29

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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53%