Businesses with a turnover below N$1 million may no longer be required to register for VAT or file returns if amendments to the Value-Added Tax Act are approved.

Finance Minister Iipumbu Shiimi explained that the move is to modernise and streamline the tax system to benefit SMEs and enhance the overall efficiency of tax administration.

The bill also aims to expand the scope of import declarations and the payment of tax on imported services.

Other notable changes include raising the monetary threshold required for VAT registration, increasing the cash sales amount below which a tax invoice is not required, adjusting the interest rate applicable to refunds due to registered persons, and altering the interest rate on overdue tax amounts.

"This way, we are providing relief to SMEs to focus on their businesses and grow their businesses; therefore, we do not really want to load them with the heavy burdens of filing VAT returns. We have also changed the provision that talks about at what level you should keep invoices, and at the moment it's only 100, so we have now increased a little bit so that again we are aiming to reduce the tax burden, especially for small businesses, so those are the main amendments made to this bill."

Another amendment is that businesses with a turnover below one million dollars will no longer be required to register for VAT or file returns, a move that will ease their administrative and financial obligations.