"We are not creating a new VAT rate, it will maintain the same rates of 5 percent and 14 percent. What happens is that there is a faster mechanism to obtain the tax that the taxpayer will be able to recover later," said Claudio Paulino dos Santos, in an online conference on "Changes to the Angolan Tax System," organized by Media Rumo.
The president of the General Tax Administration clarified that the measure was in public consultation in October and was sent to the partners, corresponding to the objective of reducing the 'gap' (difference) between the estimated revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT) and the amounts actually collected.
"The OECD and UNECA (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa) have been conducting studies on the VAT gap between what is projected and what, in fact, states are able to collect and in Africa this gap is above 50 percent," justified Paulino dos Santos, explaining that the objective is to present solutions to reduce this gap associated with fraud and tax evasion.
According to the head of the General Tax Administration, the measure "will not make the buyer or the supplier more expensive": "What is consecrated is a mechanism for the state to have this revenue as soon as possible, because in normal situations it would stay one and a half months in the legal sphere of the taxpayer".
Cláudio Paulino dos Santos stated that it will be possible, this way, "to reduce the lost revenue because the taxpayer didn't present his declaration or didn't pay his tax".
The tax "will be levied on the invoice, but taxpayers subject to VAT who are in the simplified system or in the general system can recover it in their presentation of the periodic declaration," he said.
In the case of informal traders, "the payment will not be deducted because they are not registered for VAT.
