Rédaction Africa Links 24 with ANGONOTÍCIAS
Published on 2024-02-27 21:42:34
Taxpayers are facing numerous constraints in paying Property Tax, whose deadline for payment ends on March 29, due to the required documents and the parametrization process of the new procedures.
The tax payment process has undergone changes in the form of payment compared to last year, which are causing distress to taxpayers and even employees of the General Tax Administration (AGT), due to the requirement of the property matrix document, which should be issued by the tax authorities, but in many cases, this is not happening due to a lack of communication between the offices. Not to mention the parametrization of the software, a real puzzle for tax officials, as reported by Expansão.
“I have been waiting for at least a month for the payment note to be issued and so far nothing, since I submitted the process. They said they would call, and nothing. Every time I come here, the justification is the same. They are having difficulties in the system due to the new parametrization,” a taxpayer at the 4th tax office in Talatona told Expansão.
A similar situation is experienced by another taxpayer affiliated with the 2nd tax office. Despite submitting the process with the property matrix, they are still waiting for the issuance of the Single Payment Reference to the State (RUPE), a document that allows for the regularization of tax payment. “My properties have public deeds and property matrices. I submitted this documentation and proof of payment of last year’s Property Tax in January, and still nothing,” they said. In addition to these situations, there are also cases of offices that do not accept requests for Property Tax payment for properties that are not in their localities, thus violating the AGT’s instruction that payment can be made at any tax office. “They did not accept that I pay the Property Tax for my house in Viana here in this tax neighborhood (Talatona). They say I have to go to Viana to pay, but on the radio, AGT bosses say we can pay at any tax office,” a frustrated Albertino Pedro said.
For those who have houses in centralities, the situation is not different, although it has improved, as these residents do not have property matrices because the State has not yet registered these properties in the land registry offices. To mitigate the situation, AGT is issuing a provisional property matrix for properties in centralities in coordination with the Housing Development Fund, a process that is also affecting the payment of Property Tax for centrality residents. “I have been waiting for over two weeks. Now they said they had to contact the Housing Development Fund because there was an irregularity with the number of my apartment,” explained Maria Costa at the finance office in the Kilamba centrality.
The legal regularization of properties is a problem that affects at least more than half of the homes in the country, according to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Marcy Lopes, who recently stated that 80% of properties in Angola are not registered. This issue is not new and has also been pointed out as a hindrance to the capture of financing and private investment, as the lack of property registration prevents them from being used as collateral in any situation.
Due to these constraints, some taxpayers fear not being able to pay the Property Tax by the end of March. “These problems are from the AGT and we will probably be the ones to pay, because if we do not regularize by the end of March, we will be penalized,” said the taxpayer.
Read the original article (Portuguese) on Angonoticias
