José Leiria, who was speaking to the press on the sidelines of the workshop on "Prevention and Detection of Tax Crimes", stated that tax offences continue to be "a huge concern" for the tax authorities, stressing that these amounts "are the taxes that taxpayers fail to pay and that the AGT, through coercive collection mechanisms, has been recovering".
According to José Leiria, non-oil tax revenues should contribute around 15 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but only reach 10 percent.
The official stressed that coercive collection has been a simpler process than the assessment of criminal wrongdoing, data analysis, evidence work and dialogue with the Criminal Investigation Service and the Attorney General's Office, which has been more complex.
Irregular tax declarations submitted to the AGT by accountants have been one of the main offences detected by the tax authorities.
"Broadly speaking, what we see is that many accountants limit themselves to information provided by companies and close the accounts with only this information," said José Leiria, advocating that seminars should also be held for accountants.
"In these cases where we find irregularities that could lead to criminal liability, the accountants who actually signed the accounts may also, depending on the degree of involvement, intent or excessive guilt they may have in the process, be called to the proceedings by the competent bodies," he emphasized.
José Leiria called for the commitment of accountants, in the sense of demanding from their clients "sufficient elements so that the accounts they sign and submit to the AGT are accounts that effectively reflect the commercial activity of the companies they represent."
The head of the tax authority stressed that there is still "a long way to go" in terms of combating tax irregularities in the country, highlighting that since 2024 the tax authority has implemented a tax intelligence system, through which it can identify deviations in taxpayers' declarations.
In turn, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Manuela Carneiro, said that the organization has supported the Angolan authorities in strengthening institutional capacity, preventing money laundering and combating financial and organized crime.
Manuela Carneiro stressed that Angola "has taken concrete, important steps on this path" of combating tax crimes, recently adhering to the Seville commitment, "courageously assuming the fight against corruption and illicit financial flows as a national priority".
"Angola is creating this right path with determination and a sense of state. It is time to reaffirm that all resources must be protected, that tax justice must prevail and that development must benefit everyone", she said.
The workshop was organized by the Coordinated Border Management Committee (CGCF), to begin the technical training process promoted by the AGT, the Attorney General's Office (PGR), the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) and the courts, in an initiative that has the technical support of UNODC and funding from Japan.
