The hopes of a group of taxpayers who approached the High Court to temporarily stop the Namibia Revenue Agency from deducting money from their salaries have been dashed.

Close to 1,000 employees are believed to be involved in a tax refund scam running into millions of dollars.

The applicants wanted the High Court to temporarily stop deducting their funds and to pay back what had already been deducted.

The applicants also lodged a constitutional challenge over the validity of certain provisions of the Income Tax Act of 1981.