South Sudan Revenue Authority Headquarters in Juba, South Sudan - COURTESY

The National Revenue Authority (NRA) has raised concern over persistently low tax compliance across the country, citing widespread under-declaration of income, failure to file returns, and delayed tax payments.

The Acting Commissioner for the Domestic Tax Revenue Division, Ajang Ajang Lino, said only a small fraction of registered taxpayers met the legal deadline for filing monthly tax returns.

Speaking during a media briefing in Juba, Ajang said compliance levels remain critically low despite clear legal obligations.

“We have 83,000 taxpayers. Out of these 83,000, 21,000 are organizations… businesses, companies. But then the other large component of about 62,000, these are basically the individuals,” he said.

Ajang revealed that only 1,897 taxpayers filed their returns within the 15-day statutory deadline this month.

“We have only seen the complying taxpayers’ community of about 1,897… That means the majority of our taxpayers, not even a third, have made their final declaration,” he said.

He warned that the trend is undermining domestic revenue collection efforts, noting that the authority continues to face challenges with compliance enforcement.

“We still have a lot of challenges. Among them include under-declarations of income, non-filings of tax returns, late payment of taxes,” Ajang said.

The NRA says it will continue engaging taxpayers and strengthening enforcement measures to improve compliance and boost domestic revenue collection across the country.