Breather for individual tax returns
Breather for individual tax returns

Breather for individual tax returns

The extension is only for the filing of returns, but not for payment of tax which might be due by 30 June or any other date after the end of June this year.
Jo-Mare Duddy Booysen
Jo-Maré Duddy – Individual tax payers now have until the end of September to submit their annual income tax returns.

The ministry of finance yesterday extended the deadline to submit annual individual income tax returns from 30 June to 30 September this year.

Government in 2019/20 estimates to earn about N$13.62 billion from normal income tax on individuals, according to budget documents tabled recently by finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi. This is a fraction more than the nearly N$13.59 billion of the previous fiscal year.

In a statement released yesterday, the chief public relations officer of the ministry, Tonateni Shidhudhu, said the deadline was extended due to public demand and the effects of Covid-19.

“The extension is necessary in order to allow all the employers to submit their employee tax (ETX template/excel sheet) on the Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) portal,” he said.

Validation

According to the statement, an individual income tax return declaration is validated against the information submitted by the employer.

“Hence assessments for employees will not be completed when such an employer has not submitted all monthly returns, and these assessments will be placed on hold by the system waiting for all PAYE [pay as you earn] returns for the year to be submitted online by the employer,” Shidhudhu said.

The ministry urged all employers to submit their monthly detailed ETX returns from March 2019 to February 2020 by uploading the designed Microsoft excel template or capturing employees’ details online. If these are not submitted, it will have a “greater negative effect on the employee’s annual individual submissions”. Employers should also ensure that PAYE 5 certificates are an exact reflection of their monthly ETX submissions for the tax year, he said.

“Employers are further advised not to issue PAYE 5 certificates to employees if they (employers) did not file their ETX returns online as the ITAS requirements.”

Shidhudhu said the extension is only for the filing of returns, but not for payment of tax which might be due by 30 June or any other date after the end of June this year.

Incentive

“Taxpayers are further informed that the deadline for the incentive programme for using the online tax system in the form of waving penalties charged on tax accounts will also be extended to 30 September 2020,” Shidhudhu said.

To qualify for this incentive, taxpayers must meet the following conditions: Register on the ITAS portal as an e-filer, and update and update all tax accounts for all tax types in respect of tax returns that might be outstanding through online submission.

“Once the taxpayer has fulfilled the above conditions, penalties charged on any of the tax account will automatically be waived. That means the taxpayer does not need to make any form of application to have penalties waived,” Shidhudhu said.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-23

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