Source Provisions

Types of Taxable Compensation

Tax-Exempt Income

Expatriate Concessions

Taxation of Investment Income

Taxation of lump-sum payments

General deductions

Tax rates (for all years of assessments from 1 March 2009)

Return of income and compliance

Relief from foreign tax liability

General Tax Credits

Sample Tax Calculation

Although the Namibian tax legislation is source based, the Income Tax Act does not define the term ‘source’. The meaning of the source is determined with reference to case law, which establishes the meaning to be ‘originating cause’.

Therefore, where a person (i.e. an ordinary resident of Namibia or a non-resident of Namibia) receives income where the ‘originating cause’ is services rendered within Namibia, the income will be subject to Namibian tax. Where the person is a non-resident, the person may receive relief from being taxed in Namibia if a Double Taxation Agreement (“DTA”) is available which provides for exemption or a credit for tax.

The concept of ‘ordinarily resident’ is not defined in the Income Tax Act, but is widely held (from case law) to be the country/jurisdiction which an individual considers to be their real home, i.e. the place where their permanent place of abode is, where their belongings are stored, which they leave for temporary absences and to which they regularly return after such absences. If the taxpayer is habitually and normally resident in Namibia, apart from temporary or occasional absences of long or short duration or if they decide to settle permanently in Namibia, Namibia is recognized as being their real home and the individual will become a resident by virtue of ordinary residence immediately.

Where an ordinary resident of Namibia renders services outside Namibia during any temporary absence, for or on behalf of any employer by whom the ordinary resident is employed in Namibia, the income received by the ordinary resident is subject to tax in Namibia, subject to Double Tax Agreement (“DTA”) relief if a DTA is available.

Generally speaking, most types of remuneration and benefits received by any person from a Namibian or deemed Namibian source for services rendered constitute taxable income regardless of whether the person making the payment is a resident of Namibia or not or where so ever payment is or is to be made subject to certain exceptions.

Typical items of an expatriate compensation package set out below are fully taxable:

• Basic salaries, wages, leave pay, and bonuses
• Fees, commissions, etc.
• Contractual gratuities
• Cash allowances (which include travelling, entertainment, or any other allowances)
• Non-cash benefits as discussed below.

Non-cash items which are fully taxable unless otherwise indicated:

• In most cases where the Namibian taxes are by reason of tax equalization the employer’s responsibility, the compensation should be grossed up for the tax liability. This gross-up must account for the full tax-on-tax effect of the employer paying the taxes.
  

• All home leave flights in respect to the assignee’s family, which is paid by the employer or where the employer reimburses the assignee in respect to assignee’s family flight cost, are taxable in the assignee’s hands.
• Any relocation flight and/or flights provided for travel in conjunction with business travel paid by the employer on behalf of the assignee is not subject to tax. Where the flight cost paid by the employer relates to private purposes, the benefit is subject to tax.

• Cost-of-living allowances are fully taxable in Namibia.

• The accommodation provided to an employee by the employer is fully taxable in Namibia. The value of the taxable benefit will depend on whether the employer owns the residential accommodation or whether the employer is renting the residential accommodation. 
• If the employer owns the residential accommodation the taxable benefit is determined with reference to the table issued by the NIRA set out in Appendix A, less any consideration paid by the assignee to the employer. Therefore, where the residential accommodation supplied by the employer has 4 living rooms and is located in Swakopmund the monthly taxable benefit will be NAD1,000 less any consideration paid by the assignee.
• If the employer is renting the residential accommodation the taxable value is the amount of rent paid by the employer less any consideration paid by the assignee for the residential accommodation.
• The taxable benefit can be reduced where the employer has a housing scheme registered with the Namibian Ministry of Finance. In this case, a third of the cash equivalent of the housing benefit will be exempt for tax, that is, where the taxable benefit for housing is NAD15,000, only two thirds (NAD10,000) will be included as a taxable benefit and subject to tax.

• The monthly taxable value of a company vehicle is 1.5 percent (18 percent per annum) of the purchase price of the vehicle, where all running, maintenance and fuel costs are carried by the employer.
• The monthly taxable value of a company vehicle is 1.4 percent (16.8 percent per annum) of the purchase price of the vehicle, where the fuel cost is carried by the employee.
• The monthly taxable value is NAD100, where the use of the vehicle is restricted to trips only between the employee’s private residence and the place of employment.
• The taxable value of a rental car available to the assignee for both private and business use where the employer is responsible for the rental payments is equivalent to the rental payments made by the employer.

• Benefits-in-kind generally form part of taxable compensation.
• Employer contributions to an approved Namibian medical aid, pension, provident, retirement annuity fund and policy of insurance for educational purposes are not taxable in the hands of the employee.
• Employee contributions to Namibian registered pension, provident, retirement annuity funds and policy of insurance for educational purposes are deductible to a maximum amount of NAD40,000 per annum.

Intra-group statutory directors

Will a non-resident of Namibia who, as part of their employment within a group company, is also appointed as a statutory director (i.e. member of the Board of Directors in a group company situated in Namibia) trigger a personal tax liability in Namibia, even though no separate director's fee/remuneration is paid for their duties as a board member?

A personal tax liability will be triggered due to the fact that fees/ remuneration was paid for services that were rendered in Namibia, and therefore this would constitute Namibian-source income which is subject to tax in Namibia.

a) Will the taxation be triggered irrespective of whether or not the board member is physically present at the board meetings in Namibia?

Directorship services are generally treated as being rendered at the head office of the company where the Board of Directors regularly exercise their decision making. Therefore, should a Board of Directors of a company regularly exercise their decision-making in Namibia, those board fees will be treated as Namibian source income and therefore taxable in Namibia.

b) Will the answer be different if the cost directly or indirectly is charged to/allocated to the company situated in Namibia (i.e. as a general management fee where the duties rendered as a board member is included)?

This will not change. Refer to a) above.

c) In the case that a tax liability is triggered, how will the taxable income be determined?

The total fees/ remuneration paid to the director will be apportioned with reference to the proportion of physical days spent rendering directorship services in Namibia over the total number of days of the relevant year of assessment. 

The following items are not taxed in the hands of the employee:

• Reimbursement of costs to relocate an employee to Namibia at the beginning and end of an assignment.
• Compensation payable to any person (other than an ordinary resident of Namibia) who holds office in Namibia as an official of another government, or any specialized agency of the United Nations.
• Any allowance or alimony received from the taxpayer’s spouse or former spouse, provided that there is a divorce order or judicial order or written agreement of separation.
• Any dividend payment received by an ordinary resident of Namibia. There is, however, a 20 percent withholding tax charge where the shareholder is a person not ordinarily resident in Namibia, subject to DTA relief if available.
• Any lump-sum received as a result of relinquishment, termination, loss, repudiation, cancellation or variation of any office or employment, excluding lump-sum payments from any pension, retirement annuity or benefit fund. For the exemption to apply the relinquishment, termination, loss, repudiation, cancellation or variation must have been as a result of an employee having become redundant as a result of the employer having effected a reduction in personnel or the employer ceased or intending to carry on trade or the employee has attained the age of 55 years or relinquishment, termination, loss, repudiation, cancellation or variation is due to superannuation, ill-health or other infirmity. The amount exempted is however limited to NAD300,000.

• To the extent that a non-resident individual renders services outside of Namibia, the remuneration attributable to the time worked offshore would not be taxable in Namibia, as it would not be sourced in Namibia. This apportionment will usually be done on the basis of days spent working inside and outside Namibia. It is however our recommendation that the requirement for the individual to render services offshore be detailed in a contract of employment (such as a split contract arrangement which could be entered into).

• There are no special tax concessions for expatriates.

• Non-residents are taxable on Namibian-sourced investment income.

• A withholding tax at a rate of 10 percent is deducted by a Namibian registered financial institution, that is registered banks and unit trust schemes, which is a final tax, therefore there is no filing obligation for the person to whom the interest accrues.
• Interest received by an individual from the following sources is exempt from tax:
  • Interest received from a Namibian Post Office Savings Bank
  • Any interest credited as interest in respect of any subscription share in any building society in Namibia
  • Interest income from stock or securities (including Treasury Bills) issued by the Government of Namibia.

• Dividends received by ordinary residents are exempt from tax.
• A person not ordinarily resident in Namibia is taxed on dividends from a Namibian source. A non-resident shareholders’ tax at 20 percent is withheld from the dividends payable to a non-resident.
• Where the beneficiary of the dividend is a resident of a country/jurisdiction with whom Namibia has a DTA, tax relief may be available.
• Dividends on special tax-free indefinite period shares in building societies in Namibia are however not taxable for both non-residents and ordinary residents, subject to certain limitations.

Lump-sum payments from retirement/pension/preservation/provident funds are fully taxable unless otherwise indicated. The amount of the lump-sum payment is generally governed by the rules of the fund:

• Lump-sum payments from retirement annuity funds are exempt from tax.

• Lump-sum payments from pension funds are exempt from tax if the payment was as a result of:
  • Death
  • Superannuation, ill-health or other infirmity
  • Retirement

• Lump-sums from a provident and preservation funds paid out as a result of resignation or dismissal, termination or dissolution of the fund are fully taxable. One third of the lump-sum paid out by a provident and preservation fund is exempt, subject to certain conditions being met.

Payment of the entire lump-sum from a pension, provident and preservation fund into another approved pension, provident, retirement annuity and preservation fund, transferred for the benefit of the taxpayer during or within 3 months after the year of assessment, is not taxable.

The items, which are allowable as a deduction in the calculation of income tax payable by an individual, depend on the nature of the income and the trade.

Expenses of a revenue nature which are wholly, exclusively, and necessarily incurred in the production of gross income, and which are not specifically disallowed, are deducted in the computation of taxable income.

No deduction can be made in determining the taxable income, where the expenditure items include among others:

• Maintenance costs of the taxpayer, their family or establishment
• Domestic or private expenses 
• Any loss or expense recoverable under any insurance contract, guarantee, security or indemnity
• Taxation levied on income 
• Expenditures not laid out or expended for the purposes of trade.

Individuals are entitled to the following deductions.

• Contributions to Namibian registered provident, pension and retirement annuity funds as well as premiums paid to a policy of insurance for the education of a dependent, limited to an aggregated maximum amount of NAD40,000 per annum.

• The deadline for submission of individual returns of income, other than provisional taxpayers, is 30 June every year.
• The submission date for a provisional taxpayer is the last day of September every year.
• NIRA will assess the return of income and notify the taxpayer of any taxes outstanding or refunds due.
• Late payment of any final tax amounts outstanding will attract penalties of 10 percent per month or part of a month and interest charges of 20 percent per annum.

Subject to certain conditions, relief from Namibian tax will apply where the assignee is a resident of Namibia and on an assignment to a treaty country/jurisdiction, where:

• the individual is tax resident in a treaty country/jurisdiction and not present in Namibia for more than 183 days in the period defined,
• the employer responsible for the remuneration is not a resident of Namibia, and the remuneration is not borne by a permanent establishment or fixed base of the foreign employer.

Namibia has double tax agreement with the following countries/jurisdictions:

• Botswana
• France
• Germany
• India
• Mauritius
• Romania
• Russian Federation
• South Africa
• Sweden
• United Kingdom
• Malaysia.

The NIRA does not adopt the economic employer approach to interpreting Article 15 of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) treaty. There is no indication that this approach will be adopted in the near future.

There are no general tax credits that can be claimed against a taxpayer’s taxable income.

This calculation assumes a married taxpayer resident in Namibia with two children whose 3-year assignment begins on 1 March 2017 and ends 28 February 2020. The taxpayer’s basic salary is 100,000 US dollars (USD) per annum and the calculation covers 3 years.

Exchange Rate: USD1 = NAD12

• All earned income is attributable to Namibian sources.
• Bonuses are paid at the end of each tax year and accrue evenly throughout the year.
• The company car, with a cost of USD50,000 is used for both business and private and the employer is responsible for maintenance and petrol costs, i.e. the taxable benefit will be 18 percent of the cost of the car per annum.
• The employee is non-resident throughout the assignment.
• Tax treaty agreements are ignored for the purpose of this calculation.
• The employer has a housing scheme registered with the NIRA.

Calculation of Taxable Income