The Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) is eyeing to collect about N$12.3 million from 258 vehicles which were seized after having been smuggled and fraudulently registered in the country.
NamRA has since invoked a relief measure to allow members of the public whose vehicles were detained to come forth and reclaim their property subject to paying custom duties and tax.
“A total of 258 smuggled and fraudulently registered vehicles have been detained, of which 48 vehicles have since been released back to owners upon payment of outstanding duties and taxes. We don’t have the monetary value of the detained vehicles at hand, however if section 101 of the Customs and Excise Act, 1998 (Act No. 20 of 1998) is invoked NamRA will collect the N$12.3 million,” said NamRA’s Communications Manager Tonateni Shidhudhu.
Shidhudhu said N$5.19 million will be for Customs Duties, while N$872,068 will be for Excise Part 2B. A further N$756,680 is for Environmental Levy, N$3.42 million for Value-Added Tax, in addition to penalties amounting to N$2 million as calculated based on the lowest fine of N$8,000.
“The temporary measure offered to vehicle owners will run for a period of two months, until 14 July 2023. After the given grace period lapses, vehicles not released back to their owners will be disposed of as per section 101 of the Customs and Excise Act. It is therefore imperative that the detained vehicle owners approach NamRA to make arrangements and have their vehicles returned to them,” stated Shidhudhu.
This is done in conjunction with the Namibian Police and the Roads Authority which is run under a collective name of NACURA. The temporary measure is part of the revenue loss recovery by NamRA, hence the vehicles in question were detained and resolved to be released back to owners only upon the paying of outstanding duties and taxes.
“The NACURA-led investigations into the illegal importation of vehicles into Namibia revealed that a significant number of motor vehicles were illegally imported, through forged customs documents, forged police clearance certificate and subsequent registration of such on the Namibia Traffic Information system (NaTIS).”
