Windhoek: Two months ahead of the Namibia Revenue Agency's (NamRA) fifth anniversary, it has been reported that taxpayers owe the agency a staggering N.dollars 90 billion accumulated over the years.

According to Namibia Press Agency, NamRA Chief of Strategic Communications, Stakeholder Engagement and Taxpayer Education, Yarukeekuro Steven Ndorokaze, stated that the current tax debt amounts to N.dollars 90 billion, accumulated over several years, describing it as historic debt. Of this amount, between N.dollars 17 billion and N.dollars 18 billion constitutes capital tax debt, while the remainder comprises interest and penalties.

In a recent interview with Nampa, Ndorokaze noted that despite the substantial amount owed, the agency is confident that a significant portion can be recovered through the government's tax amnesty programme, introduced in 2023 and later extended for a further two years until the end of October 2026, provided all relevant parties meet the required conditions.

'The amnesty programme has demonstrated its effectiveness as numerous taxpayers have benefited from it. We encourage taxpayers to seize this opportunity as approximately eight months remain until its conclusion in October. Our objective is to achieve a zero balance regarding tax revenue owed. While this may not be entirely attainable, we urge taxpayers to strive for that goal as closely as possible,' he said.

Ndorokaze added that by the end of the last financial year, the agency had collected nearly N.dollars 3 billion through the tax amnesty programme. He emphasised that the policy allows taxpayers to settle capital tax debt, while interest and penalties are waived. If the amnesty proves successful, NamRA anticipates collecting between N.dollars 17 billion and N.dollars 18 billion, with the remaining N.dollars 70 billion to be waived under the programme.

Furthermore, Ndorokaze said that during the first collection period from 2021 to 2022, the agency's target was N.dollars 49.5 billion, and by the end of that financial year, it had collected N.dollars 52.9 billion, surpassing the target by N.dollars 3.5 billion.

He continued, 'In the last financial year, our target was approximately N.dollars 81 billion, and we collected N.dollars 88.6 billion, again exceeding our target by several billion.'

He also highlighted that over the past four years, the agency has recorded a cumulative increase in revenue collection of approximately 67 per cent, progressing from 40 per cent to 80 per cent.

'This reflects a significant upward trend in state revenue collection,' he concluded.