Duty-Waiver-Policy-September-2024

CONTENT

The Duty Waiver Policy (September 2024) of The Gambia aims to provide structured guidance on the administration, monitoring, and reporting of duty exemptions. It seeks to balance revenue mobilization with social and economic development goals, minimizing abuse while promoting transparency, accountability, and compliance with tax obligations.

Specific Objectives

1. Streamline Application Processes: Develop guidelines to expedite and standardize duty exemption applications.

2. Enhance Compliance: Integrate measures for tax compliance in exemptions, targeting VAT, CIT, PAYE, and rental income tax enforcement.

3. Preserve the Tax Base: Limit revenue leakage and enforce compliance to maintain the integrity of the domestic tax base.

4. Promote Transparency: Ensure accountability by making ministries and agencies responsible for initial screenings of applications.

5. Facilitate Trade: Introduce Fast-Track Application Regime for certain categories like diplomatic missions and donor-funded projects.

6. Stakeholder Engagement: Conduct consultations and workshops to ensure comprehensive adoption of the policy.

SUMMARY

The Duty Waiver Policy addresses the growing challenge of revenue loss due to duty exemptions, which amounted to D2.3 billion (2% of GDP) in 2022. The policy emphasizes structured processes and compliance measures to safeguard domestic resource mobilization while achieving sustainable development goals.

Key measures include:

• Aligning exemptions with legal frameworks such as domestic laws, international agreements, and financing conventions.

• Strengthening monitoring systems and enforcing compliance on high-risk tax heads like withholding tax, rental income tax, and VAT.

• Establishing a Fast-Track Application Regime to reduce delays and administrative bottlenecks for eligible applicants.

• Developing new duty waiver forms to enhance enforcement and data collection.

• Engaging stakeholders, including the Gambia Revenue Authority and other ministries, in policy validation workshops.

The policy ultimately aims to balance exemptions with resource mobilization, ensuring that public financial management, accountability, and compliance are prioritized for national development.