Viana – A tax registration campaign for traders from West African countries, who operate in Angola, was launched on Wednesday, in the municipality of Viana (Luanda), with a view to expanding the tax base in the country.
This is an initiative by the General Tax Administration (AGT), in coordination with the Association for the Development of Angolan and Foreign Young People (ADJAE), an organization that cooperates with the Angolan State in the search for solutions to problems that affect society.
On the occasion, the president of the Board of Directors of AGT, José Leiria, recalled that it was a process that began in January this year, with an operation aimed at traders in warehouses, canteens and stores that operate informally, having registered 34 thousand establishments, with emphasis on foreigners from West Africa.
According to the manager, the launch of this registry is part of the work to reach out to traders, who must become legal if they want to continue carrying out their economic activity.
Alongside this action, he said, the process of raising awareness, registration, clarification of tax obligations and sealing of establishments followed, with a reference number for the location of the establishments, as well as notification of those who defaulted in paying taxes.
Despite this initiative, the PCA highlighted that there is still a high level of tax non-compliance, a fact that forced the AGT to move to the coercive phase, since last September.
According to José Leiria, this action made it possible to discover that a large number of traders carry out their own activity and business, but the documents belong to third parties, who are often unknown to the traders themselves.
Therefore, he called on traders to go to the tax institution to obtain identification and, consequently, pay taxes.
He added that in Angola there are more than 100,000 economic agents from West African countries, of which only 4,000 are taxpayers.
In turn, the coordinator of the Business Technical Group (GTE), Carlos Cunha, considered it an act of inclusion, which aims to bring traders closer to the formal market, demanding more responsibility.
He also added that the action must be accompanied by the work of ANIESA, to allow establishments to improve hygiene and employees to be registered with social security.
“Currently, we have more than 100,000 canteens across the country that employ at least one million workers, including Angolans and West Africans, a fact that should not be marginalized, but should be discussed”, he stated.
The president of the Association for the Development of Angolan and Foreign Youth (ADJAE), Tounkara Saidou, said he considered it to be an act of crucial importance, planning to register around 300 thousand agents at national level, of which 100 thousand in Luanda. He highlighted that, at the capital level, its establishments are concentrated in the municipalities of Luanda, Cazenga and Viana. HDC/QCB/DOJ
