Finance ministry introduces incentive programme to encourage tax e-filing
The Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein announced that his ministry is offering an incentive in the form of waiving penalties charged on tax accounts using the Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS), that was introduced tat the beginning of the year.
The incentive programme covers the period since the launch of ITAS and ends on 30 June 2020
In order to qualify for this incentive, a taxpayer must register on the ITAS portal as an e-filer; and update through online submission all tax accounts for all tax type in respect of tax returns that might be outstanding.
Schlettwein said taxpayers who have already registered as e-filers since the launch of ITAS also benefit from this incentive, adding that penalties for those without outstanding returns will be waived automatically, while those with outstanding returns must first electronically file them in order to qualify for the penalty waiver.
The minister added that updating tax accounts and filing of tax returns through ITAS portal expedites the processing of tax returns and taxpayer audit thereby preventing delays in tax assessments and refunds and also complements the ministry in its efforts to eliminate current and prevent future backlog in respect of unprocessed tax returns.
“Once the taxpayer has fulfilled the above conditions, penalties charged on any of the tax account will automatically be waived. That means that the taxpayer does not need to make any form of application to have the penalties waived,” Schlettwein said.
Meanwhile the minister also announced that the Central Procurement Board of Namibia has been working vigorously in addressing the issue pertaining to a lack of human capacity by adopting an organizational structure which resulted in the recruitment of highly skilled and qualified staff members.
“As of 30 October 2019, the Central Procurement Board of Namibia staff complement stands just over thirty staff members compared to only under 10 staff members in March 2019,” Schlettwein said.
He added that the Procurement Board has advertised a number of vacancies and the recruitment process has started and management has been busy conducting interviews during the month of October, adding that they hope to have the majority of the vacancies filled by end of February 2020.
