Civil servants fail to meet tax deadline

THOUSANDS of civil servants failed to meet Wednesday’s deadline for individual tax returns for the 2003-04 financial year because of inefficiencies in the accounting departments of several Government Ministries.

They have now been given until August 31 to submit their returns, while Ministries sort out backlogs in keeping personnel files up to date. Complaints by Higher Education Minister Nahas Angula in the National Assembly on Wednesday that he had not received a Pay-As-You-Earn form (a prerequisite attachment to the tax submission) appears to have opened a can of worms, with several Ministers surprised to find that their own Ministries, and not that of Finance, were to blame for the situation.Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila told The Namibian yesterday that her Ministry was only the final step in the process of issuing certificates to about 80 000 State employees.”Every employee of Government is an employee through that specific Ministry.It is that employer’s responsibility to ensure that the correct tax has been deducted and the file of the person is up to date.The Ministry of Finance must just ensure that they have complied with the tax laws, made correct deductions and correctly declared the tax payable,” she said.Although reluctant to name the culprits, the Minister did admit that some of the big Ministries were at least two years behind in having certificates issued to their employees – meaning that they have not been able to submit tax returns.A spot check by The Namibian revealed that employees in the two Education Ministries, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office were among those who have not been able to submit tax returns.”It’s an unfortunate situation.We have tried all means to communicate that we have received incomplete information or information not submitted,” said Kuugongelwa-Amadhila.”We can identify the gaps, but we can’t close them.”The Minister said the problem has persisted despite holding seminars in February to prepare the financial staff of the various Ministries for their involvement in the process.Ministers have approached Kuugongelwa-Amadhila to request meetings and request more training for their staff to iron out the matter.Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said the Ministry was still willing to provide training and whatever else it took to reduce the backlogs.Ultimately though, she said, the individual Ministries had to do more to facilitate the smooth running of the taxation process.It is envisaged that in future Ministries will be able to keep electronic records of employees’ files which will be directly accessible from the central system at the Finance Ministry.The Minister said it was not desirable to print PAYE certificates for certain sectors of Ministries only, as it would create confusion.It was thus preferable that all personnel files of a particular Ministry were in order before printing certificates.Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said her own Ministry was only three months behind in updating its files and thus did not consider it a delay.Where the Ministries concerned were at fault for the late submission of tax returns, civil servants would not be penalised.”People do pay their taxes.We are doing really okay for people to comply.It’s the issue of timeliness which is a concern to us,” she said.Complaints by Higher Education Minister Nahas Angula in the National Assembly on Wednesday that he had not received a Pay-As-You-Earn form (a prerequisite attachment to the tax submission) appears to have opened a can of worms, with several Ministers surprised to find that their own Ministries, and not that of Finance, were to blame for the situation.Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila told The Namibian yesterday that her Ministry was only the final step in the process of issuing certificates to about 80 000 State employees.”Every employee of Government is an employee through that specific Ministry.It is that employer’s responsibility to ensure that the correct tax has been deducted and the file of the person is up to date.The Ministry of Finance must just ensure that they have complied with the tax laws, made correct deductions and correctly declared the tax payable,” she said.Although reluctant to name the culprits, the Minister did admit that some of the big Ministries were at least two years behind in having certificates issued to their employees – meaning that they have not been able to submit tax returns.A spot check by The Namibian revealed that employees in the two Education Ministries, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office were among those who have not been able to submit tax returns.”It’s an unfortunate situation.We have tried all means to communicate that we have received incomplete information or information not submitted,” said Kuugongelwa-Amadhila.”We can identify the gaps, but we can’t close them.”The Minister said the problem has persisted despite holding seminars in February to prepare the financial staff of the various Ministries for their involvement in the process.Ministers have approached Kuugongelwa-Amadhila to request meetings and request more training for their staff to iron out the matter.Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said the Ministry was still willing to provide training and whatever else it took to reduce the backlogs.Ultimately though, she said, the individual Ministries had to do more to facilitate the smooth running of the taxation process.It is envisaged that in future Ministries will be able to keep electronic records of employees’ files which will be directly accessible from the central system at the Finance Ministry.The Minister said it was not desirable to print PAYE certificates for certain sectors of Ministries only, as it would create confusion.It was thus preferable that all personnel files of a particular Ministry were in order before printing certificates.Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said her own Ministry was only three months behind in updating its files and thus did not consider it a delay.Where the Ministries concerned were at fault for the late submission of tax returns, civil servants would not be penalised.”People do pay their taxes.We are doing really okay for people to comply.It’s the issue of timeliness which is a concern to us,” she said.