The Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) says it collected N$51 billion in taxes as of November, putting it within reach of its N$71-billion target for the 2023-2024 financial year.
According to NamRA Commissioner Sam Shivute, the collected taxes are N$13 billion more, when compared to the N$38 billion collected in November 2022.
“Our strategic objective is to improve revenue collection. And I’m very happy to inform the public that we are well on course to achieve our revenue target. Initially, the revenue target was N$67 billion that we have to collect by the end of March… And with the Minister making a midterm budget review, it was adjusted to N$71 billion. I’m very happy to report on our fast-tracked collection when compared to the previous financial year,” he said.
He attributed the achievement to what he described as hard-working colleagues.
“Therefore, given what we know and the data that we have, we have no doubt that we are going to exceed and hit the target that has been given to us by the Minister of Finance,” Shivute said.
He commended the team for being vigilant as the web for the tax refund fraud cases that have stretched from N$15 million to N$833 million is being dealt with.
NamRA has registered 56 criminal cases so far while over 1,160 taxpayers from 40 institutions are implicated in the scam.
“From March this year we have been able to recover about N$43 million of what was unlawfully claimed, and we are working towards recouping more,” said Shivute.
“Then the other significant achievement that is worth reporting as well is the court cases where we were being litigated for having deducted N$33 million from a company that has been avoiding paying tax. Another scenario is of a group of aggrieved individuals who sought a relief and an interdiction to stop deducting funds from their accounts after being involved in tax refund fraud. These are a sign that we are working hard, and serious with enforcing tax compliance and revenue collection.”
NamRA has been using Section 91 of the Income Tax Act, which gives it the mandate to appoint third parties that include banks and employers to collect monies owed on its behalf.
“So the achievements are a lot. You also know that from 1 April we are now operating 24 hours at Trans Kalahari Mamuno and Wenela border post, something which improved service delivery as opposed to when we operated from 05h00 to 22h00. In addition to this, we have developed a leadership model and NamRA has become one of the few institutions, if not the only first institution in this country to have developed leadership models that guides the attitude, the conduct and performance,” he added.
Full interview in the Year in Review 2023 I Outlook 2024 Magazine
