Namibia has 18 months to sort out “tax haven mess” – EU

Namibia has 18 months to sort out “tax haven mess” – EU

Namibia has 18 months, up to June 2019 to comply with the European Union (EU) demand that it joins the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax purposes and to sign, ratify and participate in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance on Tax Matters.

Head of the EU Delegation in Namibia, Jana Hybaskova said Thursday that the EU had categorized Namibia as a country with a non-cooperative tax jurisdiction.

Until June 2019, Hybaskova said no direct sanctions will apply to Namibia but warned that if the country does not comply by then, tough sanctions may be applied. EU assistance to Namibia in various fields amount to 70 million Euros at the moment.

She blamed Namibian authorities for not responding to questions to clarify certain tax procedures for the reason that country ended up on the list of so called “tax havens” although Namibia was not one in the true sense of the word.

Hybaskova said the EU Mission in Namibia has since written to the ministry of finance advising it on what measures it should take for Namibia to be removed from the list. The delegation has already had meetings with the country’s finance minister Calle Schletwein.

Namibia was this week classified as a tax haven by the EU after it failed to meet a deadline to implement proposed actions on how local tax system could be strengthened to be on par with EU standards. Enditem