Over a decade ago, when I was heading to university, my elder brother had just resigned from his job to further his studies. He had planned to use a portion of his pension pay-out to assist with paying my accommodation expenses for the first two months, while we wait for a pay-out from my study policy.
However, there was a delay in his pension pay-out, simply because his tax affairs were not up to date, and this resulted in us making alternative plans with the accommodation payments that were due.
This was the time I learned the value of tax compliance.
At the time, the only thought and self-question I had was, “did my brother know he needed to file his tax return and just chose not to?”, “Should he have known and understood the implication of non-compliance, would there have been a difference in his past actions towards this compliance”? and to think that this was all about 11 years ago, and knowing all these, would it make a difference to you and me in how we approach tax today?
Rather ask, how are we doing with our tax affairs?
To comply with the 30th of June 2022 deadline please take note of:
- The ITAS system, where electronic filling takes place, is integrated with your employer’s information ,this means that your tax return is pre-populated. Filing has thus been simplified.
- You will need to get your PAYE 5 from your employer, which is a certificate that indicates to NAMRA how much tax your employer has already paid on your behalf throughout the year. This certificate needs to be attached to your ITAS submission, hence why your employer gives it to you.
- If unemployed during the year and you had previously been registered for tax, you are still required to file your tax return, submitting a nil tax return accompanied by a declaration that you were unemployed for the year, to support your submission. For that reason, please do not ignore the deadline because non-submission will trigger penalties on your account.
- In addition, if you have income or allowable deduction outside your employment, remember to also declare these. Since your employer is not aware of this, it would have been disregarded in getting to your tax liability throughout the year and you need to bring this additional information in your taxes accordingly. Collect your retirement annuities certificates, study policies, etc, and attach this to your ITAS submission to support any additional deduction you may be claiming.
Electronic filing is relatively easy. If you are unable to complete your return, seek assistance from a friend, or a NAMRA official, or pay an accountant to do your returns for you at a fee.
For more information on the basics of income taxes in Namibia, check out the tax playlist on our YouTube channel Money matters with Budget Bee- Namibian Youtuber to learn more on the subject.
*Klestina Kauhondamwa is a Chartered Accountant by profession.
