Income Tax Amendment Act, 2018

During his budget speech earlier this year, Hon. C Schlettwein announced that certain areas will be targeted for tax reform, including the abolishment of manufacturing incentives, repeal of export processing zones, introduction of a dividends tax on local dividends, taxing of commercial activities of charitable institutions, taxation of trusts, providing for the taxation of foreign income and increasing of individual tax rates. True to his word, an income tax amendment bill has been circulated which aims to amend the definition of “gross income” with regard to the specific inclusion of foreign income, to provide for specific taxation of trusts, phase out existing preferential treatment granted to only certain traders; deleting certain exemptions, limit losses carried forward to 5 years, introduce withholding tax on dividends paid to Namibian residents, provide for thin capitalization rules, reduce the tax rates of low income earners, provide for penalties for tax evasion and to provide for incidental matters.