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.

High Court Judge Thomas Masuku said NamRA acted within the comformity of the law, and as such, it places the court in a rather precarious position in having to order the agency not to enforce the Act's provisions.

Given the Income Tax Act's validity, Masuku said the interim relief the applicants seek would represent an invasion by the court into realms that it should not venture into at present.

NamRA contended that some refunds were fraudulently made, citing a lack of supporting source documents.

That said, deductions from the applicants will continue.