The proposal was approved this Friday at the meeting of the Economic Commission of the Council of Ministers and, according to the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves, the reduction is the result of the consensus reached at technical level, submitted to the political sieve, which agreed favorably.
Vera Daves pointed out that until now there was a general rate of excise duty of 25 percent for most beverages, which were considered to be subject to taxation, meanwhile considered high for the sector's producers.
According to the minister, as a result of a dialogue with the associations of the sector, a relief was proposed, but according to the typology of the products.
"We are proposing a reduction to 8 percent for soft drinks, we are proposing 11 percent for beers and ciders, we are proposing a reduction to 15 percent for wines and to 21 percent for distillates and spirits," said the minister at the end of the meeting.
The minister stressed that, also in line with the operators, it was also proposed to transform the IEC into an electronic tax, in the same way as the Value Added Tax (VAT).
The holder of the Finance Department pointed out that the IEC is still processed manually, in this sense it is suggested to change it to "efficiency gains" and to make more effective the process of control of this tax.
"That it is processed electronically, installing devices such as physical and electronic stamps, production meters, so that all this electronic collection should be carried out to ensure that the processing and processing of this tax is electronic," he explained.
The objective is that "the systems of the operators communicate with the systems of the general tax administration and thus efficiency gains and also time savings are achieved, whatever it is necessary to do of inspection actions", he indicated.
In 2019, the Associação das Indústrias de Bebidas de Angola (AIBA) (Beverage Industries Association of Angola) spoke out against this tax, asking the authorities to reverse the unilateral measure of aggravation of the tax, which called into question the continuity of many companies.
At the time, in a statement, the AIBA considered a consultation important for a correct assessment of the "tremendously negative" impact, expressing concern that the association and the other sector associations had not been asked to comment and contribute to the decision to increase the tax from 16 percent to 25 percent.
