By: Reino Hasheela
There is rumour that NAMRA plans to have access to the account numbers of firms to monitor one’s income for the purpose of tax deductions and payments.
Luckily, I could not find this on their website announcements.
The Social Security Commission insists on full payments for maternity benefits (MSDF) and also for safety insurance (ECFO. This requirement, occasionally, holds up a number of us because we need good standing certificates to be able to get almost anything from the government.
The Road Fund Administration requires us to make payments for our trucks and heavy-duty equipment, depending on the mileage that we spend on the road.
The Namibia Training Authority has introduced a levy that is payable by anyone with a revenue of over a million and I emphasise “revenue”.
This levy needs to be paid every month. It also carries penalties for any payment delays. This is contrary to the fact that whenever any of the institutions, be it Social Security Namibia, Training Authority or government ministries, need to pay you, there is no hurry and payment can take as long as 15 months.
So, just yesterday I visited a BIPA stand that has been set up in Katutura. I was informed of my outstanding dues that carried, seemingly uncapped, penalties of over 700% and still increasing.
Currently, BIPA is offering to waive these penalties to those that want to settle the capital amount, for a limited period of time.
Just when I was excited to take advantage of this offer, something else exploded in my face. There was another invoice for “Beneficial Ownership Penalty”. What is that, I asked. Unfortunately, no one at the desk could explain it confidently.
I got to understand that since last year, 2023, a business owner is supposed to declare that they are the owner of the business. And if they don’t, “boom” there is a penalty of N$3,750 and it increases at the rate of N$ 75 a day, starting March 2024.
Unfortunately, yesterday my bank account was not in position to absorb this shock.
Back to NAMRA. My non-Namibian employee needed to renew her work permit. At the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security, she was asked to submit a tax clearance for herself and for her employer.
According to NAMRA, one could be in good standing, like we are, but also needs to be compliant. What? That’s what I said. Yes, you need to have an audit verification to be in a position to get a tax clearance. This requires scrutinisation of your bank statements over a selected number of years. That’s what I was told.
They call us tenderpreneurs; which is fine. We see ourselves as business people; we are service providers and we provide goods, although the government is our biggest client.
Unfortunately, the government cannot just handpick any of us. There has to be fairness and equity compliance. It’s for this reason that we get selected through tenders.
Parastatals keep popping up to do nothing but to suck us dry. Once set up, the people in charge of the operation, “the important executives” will be stuck in important meetings all day, figuring out how to make their organisations “employers of the year”, among other important matters.
What is the message here: remain an employee!
Until perhaps when you’re in a position to set up your own firm, with finance, HR, legal departments et al.
NB: The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board of The Villager and its owners.
