Modified tax relief programme starts on Wednesday 01 June – ITAS bugs resolved
The Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) announced on Friday that the Modified Electronic Filing Tax Relief Programme will become operational on Wednesday 01 June 2022.
The introduction of a tax amnesty to help businesses and individuals in distress, has been hampered by the agency’s e-filing system, ITAS, which has been unreliable even at that point earlier this year when the amnesty was first mooted.
In his February 2022 budget speech, the Minister of Finance, Hon Ipumbu Shiimi provided the first detail of the tax relief programme which is intended to act as an incentive to get more taxpayers to voluntarily register on the digital portal for the Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS). However, the e-filing system did not cooperate and was beset with numerous inconsistencies and operational failures.
But on Friday last week, NamRA displayed confidence in the operability of ITAS, announcing that the modified programme will go live this coming Wednesday.
As a sweetener, the agency announced that if the outstanding tax is paid between the beginning of June and the end of November , 70% of the accrued interest will be written off and all penalties will be waived. If the outstanding tax is paid between 01 December 2022 and 31 May 2023, 60% of the interest will be written off as well as all penalties.
To benefit, taxpayers must register on the ITAS portal and file their tax returns electronically.
|In a statement issued on Friday 27 May 2022, the agency’s Chief of Strategic Communications and Support Engagements, Steven Ndorokaze, said NamRA encourages all taxpayers with outstanding tax debts to participate in the modified electronic filing tax relief programme and use the opportunity to settle their taxes in arrears. No mention was made of the many problems experienced by existing ITAS users throughout 2021, and up to February this year.
The modified programme ends on 31 May 2023. Taxpayers who want to make use of the amnesty have to register on ITAS.
