By:Nghiinomenwa-vali Erastus
The Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRa) was only able to collect 23% of the estimated N$198,9 million they planned to collect from the north-central region in company/corporate tax for the 2022/23 fiscal year.
This is year to date revenue collected between March to October 2022.
The north-central region covers the entire Otjozondjupa region, Tsumeb and Khorixas.
A presentation thatNamRa made at Otjiwarongo last week indicated that the agency only managed to collect N$ 45,2 million by the end of October 2022.
Companies and closed corporations are required by law to pay tax on the profit earned and submit annual financial statements.
Companies that do not trade in mining activities in Namibia are taxed at 32% and they are required to make two provisional payments and at the same time submit two provisional tax returns.
The tax block is not only slacking in corporate tax but also the overall collection from the north-centralregion by the end of October has gone down by 20%
By the end of October 2021, NamRa was able to collect N$641,7 million from Otjozondjupa region, including the towns of Tsumeb and Khorixas.
However, for this year the taxpayers in this region only manage to pay N$516, 4 million by the end of October.
The low collection is mostly attributed to company tax which could not keep up with the estimates compared to other types of taxes.
There are only four months until the 2022/2023 financial year, with companies in the north-central region managing only to pay 23% of the estimated N$198, 9 million collections.
NamRa in their presentation was not able to provide insights on why tax collection is falling in the north-centralregion despite the much-lauded economic recovery.
A glance at the country’s second-quarter GDP reveals that the lauded recoveries have not been segregated regionally and it could be skewed to a certain region and companies are not recovering at the same pace country-wide.
Governor of the Bank of Namibia, Johannes !Gawaxab has said that Namibia’s economy has turned the corner and the bleak period marred by contractions is over after the economy suffered negative growth between 2016-2020.
For a second consecutive year, the economy is projected to grow by 3,2% in 2022, sustaining the positive growth of 2.7 percent registered in 2021.
“The titanic is shifting towards a more positive territory,” according to the governor and his team’s forecast.
The Villager Business Desk, however, is unable to estimate if the north-central region companies can generate revenue in line with the economic outlook as laid out by the governor and meet the expected collection of NamRa.
To meet NamRa’s estimation, companies in Otjozondjupa region, Tsumeb and Khorixas have to generate more revenue that will enable them to pay corporate tax of N$153,8 million by March 2023.
The region isdoing well on individual tax payments- by the end of October this group of taxpayers has already paid 73% (N$260,8 million) of what NamRa estimated to collect (N$ 358,6 million).
NamRa on the other hand has also come through settling some of the tax refund invoices valued at N$65,4 million by the end of October.
Just like other regions in the country, Otjozondjupa region, Tsumeb and Khorixas taxpayers (1924) owe NamRa N$2,7 billion- which is 4% of the N$68,7 billion owed by all the taxpayers
Mostly, the north-central region owes NamRa in unpaid VAT and income tax.
Email: erastus@thevillager.com.na
