Namibia Update: Key Tax and Regulatory Changes for July 2026
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July has been a busy month in Namibia's tax and regulatory landscape. Between a bill that could finally give taxpayers a dedicated court, an amnesty window that closes in three months, and the lasting fallout from Namibia's FATF exit, there is a lot for practitioners to action — not just read about. Here is what changed, what's pending, and what you should be telling clients now.
A dedicated Tax Court moves a step closer
The Income Tax Amendment Bill, tabled in the National Assembly by Finance Minister Ericah Shafudah, proposes establishing a specialised Tax Court within the High Court to hear income tax and VAT appeals. The Bill also replaces references to the Minister of Finance with the Commissioner in matters of tax administration and collection, formally aligning day-to-day authority with NamRA rather than the Ministry.
If enacted, this gives taxpayers and their advisors a specialised forum instead of routing disputes through the ordinary court system, something practitioners have long flagged as a source of delay and inconsistency in tax jurisprudence.
What to do now: Flag pending or anticipated disputes with clients so they understand a new forum may soon be available, and keep an eye on the Bill's progress through Parliament before advising on litigation strategy.
Retirement fund and housing benefit thresholds set to change
Tucked into the same Bill are proposed increases that affect payroll and retirement planning advice: the single commutation threshold at retirement would rise from N$50,000 to N$375,000, and a new annual cap of N$400,000 would apply to housing benefits. Neither change is law yet, but both have been flagged by Treasury as part of the government's two-year phased revision of tax brackets and reliefs.
What to do now: Hold off amending payroll systems, but start modelling the impact for clients with retirement fund or housing benefit arrangements so you're ready to act the moment these are enacted.
The corporate tax rate cut is coming — but not yet
The non-mining corporate income tax rate reduction to 28% remains confirmed for the 2026/27 financial year, as set out in the 2025/26 Budget Statement. Until the enabling legislation is passed, the current 30% rate still applies. Several clients may already be assuming the lower rate applies to provisional tax calculations — check this before it causes an underpayment problem.
What to do now: Continue calculating provisional tax at 30% until NamRA or Treasury confirms the effective date of the reduction, and correct any client assumptions to the contrary.
The Tax Amnesty Programme closes 31 October 2026
NamRA is actively reminding taxpayers that the Taxpayer Amnesty Programme (TAP) ends on 31 October 2026. Under TAP, once a taxpayer settles the outstanding capital amount of a tax debt, NamRA automatically writes off the associated interest and penalties. Between April and September 2025 alone, NamRA reports collecting N$2.6 billion in revenue through the programme, reversing N$380.2 million in interest and waiving N$9.8 billion in penalties for more than 28,000 taxpayers.
To qualify, clients must be registered as e-filers on ITAS, have submitted all outstanding returns, and have accurate, complete declarations on file.
What to do now: Audit each client's ITAS filing status now. Three months sounds like plenty of time until you discover outstanding returns going back several years, get ahead of it.
The FATF grey list exit didn't lower the compliance bar
Namibia was formally removed from the FATF grey list at its June 2026 plenary, following an on-site assessment in Windhoek in April. This closes a two-year process that began when the country was listed in February 2024 over 13 strategic deficiencies in its AML/CFT/CPF framework.
The practical effect for practitioners: enhanced due diligence, beneficial ownership verification, and the record-keeping standards built up over the past two years are not temporary measures, they are now the baseline. What changes is the perception risk for clients transacting cross-border, where correspondent banks and counterparties should no longer automatically flag Namibian entities for elevated scrutiny.
What to do now: Review AML/CFT policies to confirm they reflect current practice, not what was documented when the grey-listing began. If any client believes compliance obligations have eased, correct that assumption.
ITAS disruption is still working through the system
NamRA's 30 June deadline extension to 31 August 2026, issued because of ongoing technical issues on the Integrated Tax Administration System, is still live, and clients affected by it may not yet have filed. Functions including bank statement reconciliation, the amnesty programme itself, and ASYCUDA data integration have been restored, but intermittent slowness persists.
What to do now: Confirm with any client whose return fell due 30 June that they know the real deadline is 31 August, and check that salary-earner clients have verified their PAYE figures on Schedule 17 before submitting, pre-populated data has been a recurring source of errors this year.
The bottom line
None of these changes exist in isolation. A client behind on ITAS filings because of system issues is also a client who needs to move fast on the tax amnesty before October, and one you'll want filed correctly before any future Tax Court has jurisdiction over their dispute. Treat July as the month to reconcile client status against all of the above, not just react to whichever notice landed in your inbox last.
CIBA will continue monitoring these Bills and NamRA notices as they progress and will keep members updated.