Africa-Press – Namibia. THE recent crisis faced by Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) producers due to late payments also had an effect on Value Added Tax (VAT) payments. Farmers had to remit tax payments to the Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) while being owed up to N$ 350 million by Meatco.
“Since the VAT Act requires that output VAT be declared on the date of the invoice and not the date of payment, producers are obligated to remit output VAT from Meatco to NamRA even before receiving the output VAT from Meatco. The Livestock Producers (LPO) approached NamRA on October 10, 2023, to address the challenges imposed on producers. NamRA acknowledged these challenges this week but stated that it needs to follow its mandate to comply with the VAT Act provisions,” Tanja Dahl from the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) explained.
In response to the farmers’ plight, NamRA encouraged taxpayers with outstanding tax balances due to cash flow constraints to visit their NamRA office to arrange for the settlement of their outstanding balances.
“Settlement arrangements can be made for a maximum of 12 months. It is important to note that overdue balances attract interest and penalties,” Dahl said. She added that a tax amnesty program is running from April 1, 2023, until October 2024, assisting taxpayers in settling tax arrears.
The said program includes the writing off of 100% of the interest and 100% of the penalties incurred, provided that the taxpayer pays the capital debt and meets the requirements stipulated in the tax amnesty program.
Despite the delayed pace of payments, Meatco, in a recent statement, assured the farmers that the issue is being handled. Up to N$ 600 million was already paid out to farmers for the year under review, and these payments were made from revenues from a high number of cattle marketed/slaughtered at Meatco abattoirs. In addition to this, the Finance Minister, during the mid-term budget review, threw the state-owned enterprise a lifeline, bailing out Meatco with an extra N$ 250 million.
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