Africa-Press – Angola. Last year, the General Tax Administration (AGT) collected 1.6 billion kwanzas for the State coffers, with 45 percent of the revenue coming from the non-oil sector, informed yesterday in Luanda, the president of the Council of Management.
José Leiria, who was speaking at a meeting between AGT and large taxpayers, in which the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves, participated, indicated that the largest share of the collection focused on taxes on Labor Income (IRT), Industrial (II) and on Value Added (VAT), with a participation weight of 55 percent of small taxpayers in the non-oil sector.
AGT has 399 large contributors, according to a list updated during the month of March, a number that fell from 455 and that the chairman of the Board of Directors of AGT said reflects a reduction due, among other things, to the absence of greater interaction with this class of taxed, which also represents a group that dynamizes and influences revenue collection.
According to the source, the revenues collected from small and large taxpayers helped the Executive to materialize strategic programs that contributed to the social well-being of the populations.
The manager said that the Executive has been outlining the best policies to ensure adequate tax reform, for the benefit of the national economy.
“Tax processes always tend to be in an evolutionary stage. In fact, in any state in the world, the only reform that never stops is the tax reform. Therefore, it is natural that, whether these taxes, like others, can go through a process of reform for the benefit of the Angolan economy”, he declared.
José Leiria noted, indicating that the Industrial Tax Code has been undergoing changes to minimize the tax burden on the part of companies. “It is a diploma that has been analysed”, he said, noting that “the Executive, knowing the sensitivity of companies and economic factors, has permanently taken measures to adapt tax legislation”.
tax reform
In this area, he pointed out, until 2014, the Industrial Tax rate was 35 percent and, during that year, it rose to 30 percent, and currently stands at 25 percent.
These statements were made when José Leiria was responding to a question related to the possibility of a change in the country’s tax policy, in terms of tax rates such as IRT, VAT and II, stating that there is nothing foreseen, but that the tax laws are always subject to change, due to the political, economic and social dynamics of the country.
“Tax reforms should always happen. No tax diploma can be considered finished and unalterable. I’m saying that there may be legislative changes”, he said, stressing that these can occur at the initiative of the Executive or even the National Assembly.
Cooperation
At the meeting, large taxpayers expressed their satisfaction with the existing cooperation with Finance and AGT, but expressed concern regarding the application of VAT on imports of equipment and on the IRT table in force.
Large public companies, banking financial institutions, insurance and reinsurance companies, pension fund management companies and pension funds, payment service providers, microcredit companies, oil and diamond companies with a turnover equal to or over five billion kwanzas per year, as well as telecommunications operators and companies operating under a monopoly regime.
Large taxpayers, whose statute was created in 2013, with the first list released in 2014, have a special, closer monitoring by their own division.
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