The Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) collected over N$27.9 billion for the State Revenue Fund from customs and excise in the financial year ending 31 March 2024.
During the 2023/24 financial year, this net revenue equated to 107.6% of the revised tax revenue estimate of N$25.9 billion, translated as 36% of NamRA’s net customs and excise collections.
“Gross revenue amounted to N$28.0 billion, from which N$63.1 million was paid out as taxpayer refunds,” said NamRA’s annual report for 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
The report noted that customs and excise categories fared well during the fiscal year, exceeding the set targets.
Meanwhile, international trade contributed the highest amount and percentage of revenue from these sources, being N$25.9 billion and 106.4% of the target, respectively.
“The fuel levy generated the second highest sum, namely N$1.3 billion (109.2% of target), followed by N$522 million (189.5% of target) in revenue receipts from the export levy,” said NamRA.
The environmental levy generated N$141.9 million (94.6% of the target) of net customs and excise receipts during the period under review.
The other category comprised revenue of N$26 million (206.6% of the target) generated from auction sales and licence fees.
The reporting year also saw Namibia receiving her share of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) pool revenue.
“The total value of the revenue received from SACU was N$24.3 billion, contributing a higher percentage to the customs and excise net value in the FY2023/4. In comparison to the previous financial year FY2022/3, the increase in its value was due to a surplus from the pool discovered after the shares were distributed,” said NamRA.
The surplus was attributable to good collection into the Common Revenue Pool of which the base data, mainly intra-SACU imports, as provided by member states during the trade data reconciliation process, are used to determine the revenue shares.
The accuracy of the trade data ensured that Namibia received a fair share from the surplus revenue.
This comes as from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, NamRA collected N$87.9 billion in gross revenue, with net revenue, reflected at N$77.0 billion, meaning that the Agency achieved 108.3% of its envisaged net revenue target.
“This success was primarily due to strong collections from both the Domestic Taxes and Customs and Excise Business Units. Some 64% of the total net revenue collected was generated from domestic taxes, while 36% was derived from customs and excise,” said the report.
The 2023/2024 financial report for the agency is set to be tabled in parliament in the coming weeks.
