Non-compliant companies owe Bipa N$275m

In November 2023, Namibian noncompliant businesses owed the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (Bipa) an accumulated N$275 million in duties and penalties for the period 2012-2022.

This is according to Bipa spokesperson Ockert Jansen, who said companies or close corporations incur
penalties when they do not file their annual returns as prescribed in law and further fail to pay the
associated duty.

Although he did not want to say how many companies owed the authority, let alone identify them, Jansen
said companies with a share capital are required by law to lodge their annual returns to Bipa by the end
of their financial year.

“However, the law gives an additional one-month grace period, after the financial year end and it is only
after this grace period has lapsed, companies and close corporations start incurring penalties,” he said.

Jansen further added that considering that companies and close corporations have been incurring
penalties since their incorporation, even prior to the establishment of Bipa, the authority thought it
prudent to waive these penalties for the period 2012-2022.

“This waiver programme, therefore, gives these business entities the much needed relief and will allow
them to start on a clean slate, while becoming compliant to their post-registration obligations,” he said.

The Annual Duty Penalty Waiver Programme was officially launched on 15 November 2023 and will end
on 31 March 2024. The programme aims to waive the penalties incurred on annual duties for all
registered companies and close corporations.

According to Jansen, Bipa will waive 100% penalties and additional fees which were payable by a
business between 2012 and 2022 on condition the entity pays its annual duty capital amount for each
specific year of nonpayment.

“Companies are also required to pay their submission fees payable for each year of non-payment,”
Jansen said, adding that different formulas are used to calculate what companies owed as duty.

Close corporations are required to pay N$120 duty annually within the prescribed period to avoid
incurring penalties, which are calculated over a five-month period and is capped at N$600 a year.

He said for companies, the annual duty is determined based on the issued share capital of such a
company.

“Companies with less than 200 000 shares issued pay N$130 as a duty and a submission fee of N$160,
bringing the total payable per year to N$290, while companies with more than 200 000 shares issued pay
N$130 as a duty, N$6,50 for every 10 000 issued shares and a submission fee of N$160,” he said.

Jansen said Bipa determines if those defaulting companies are still operating or not through the annual
return, hence the obligation to file this annually.