As a way to mitigate the economic and social impact caused by terrorism and attacks by armed groups since October 2017, was recently published the Decree number 42/2022, of 17 August ("Decree"), concerning the granting of the forgiveness of fines and reduction of interest on arrears of taxpayers owing the Compulsory Social Security System (“CSSS”), in order to provide support to affected companies and self-employed persons (“SEP”) through the adoption of measures to alleviate the contributory obligation to the CSSS system managed by the INSS.
1. Elegibility
According to the Decree, it is a condition of eligibility to be a company or SEP based in Cabo Delgado Province, and provided that it fits into one of the situations below:
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Have debts of contributions, fines and late payment interest, and be interested in joining;
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Has proceedings pending for the coercive collection of the debt of contributions in the Courts, Prosecutor's Offices and Private Court of Tax Foreclosure, without prejudice to the criminal liability that may apply to the case; and
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Has entered into agreements for payment in installments before the Decree enters into force, however, in these cases, the relief from fines and reduction of default interest will only be applied to the remaining amount of the debt that was the object of the agreement.
2. Conditions for Granting
According to the provisions of the Decree, the relief from fines and reduction of default interest are granted under the condition that the taxpayer makes full payment of the outstanding contributions that gave rise to the application of the fine and default interest.
On the other hand, any taxpayer who makes full payment of the contributions will benefit from a total relief from fines and a 98% (ninety eight per cent) reduction in default interest.
However, taxpayers have the option to request the payment of the contributions in instalments, and in this case, despite benefiting from the total relief from fines, the reduction in late payment interest will only be 75% (seventy five per cent).
It is important to highlight that in the event of non-compliance with the payment by instalments, the regime of payment of the debt by instalments will apply, under the general terms of law.
3. Entry into Force
The Decree came into force on the date of its publication (17 August 2022), and shall remain in force for a period of twelve (12) months.