A comparative study of income tax legislation for small and medium enterprises in South Africa and the United Kingdom from a Namibian perspective

Abstract

Since Namibia’s independence in 1990, various changes were introduced to the Namibian Income Tax Act. None of these changes were specifically targeting small and medium enterprises although the majority of entities in Namibia can be classified as small and medium enterprises. Recognising the contribution made by small and medium enterprises, Government recently indicated that tax reform for small and medium enterprises should be treated as a priority. Differentiated tax treatment is applied in the United Kingdom and South Africa and aims to reduce the tax burden. Although previous studies have been carried out on differentiated tax treatment for small and medium enterprises, none of these studies were done from a Namibian perspective. The aim of this study is to analyse literature on taxation for small and medium enterprises in the United Kingdom and South Africa to recognize the advantages and disadvantages of tax policies aimed at the small and medium enterprises sector. The study also compared tax policies for small and medium enterprises in the United Kingdom and South Africa to recommend possible implementation for the Namibian tax system. Namibia should learn from these countries and apply the best practices. The study reached the conclusion that tax reform in Namibia for the small and medium enterprises sector is desperately needed and recommends that tax policies aiming at reducing the tax compliance burden should receive preference over those reducing the tax rate burden. This research may serve as the starting point for revised tax policies and legislation specifically aiming at small and medium enterprises.