What the TIN is
The TIN is the number Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) assigns to a taxpayer in Namibia. It follows you across every tax you deal with: VAT, income tax and withholding. Businesses that pay you will ask for it before they release payment, because they report their suppliers to Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) by this number.
Who needs one
The TIN is NamRA's single taxpayer number, and every tax type hangs off it. Register if you earn a salary over N$100,000 a year — NamRA asks you to register and give your employer proof of registration. Register if you have income from a business, a profession or farming, whether or not it is formal. Companies and close corporations register. So does anyone who is a provisional taxpayer: NamRA's guidance is non-salary taxable income over N$50,000 a year, though the Act's own exemption from provisional tax stops at N$5,000. Importers and exporters need a TIN for a separate reason — since 1 April 2026 a valid TIN must appear on every customs declaration in ASYCUDAWorld or the declaration is rejected. VAT is not a separate identity: you register for it as a tax type under your TIN.
How to register, step by step
- Get the registration form. 'Application for Registration as a Taxpayer — Individual' covers Salaried, Pension, Farmer, Business, Provisional and Below Threshold in one form; companies and close corporations have their own. Both are on itas.namra.org.na under Download Center, Application Forms.
- Create the portal account. Go to itas.namra.org.na and click 'Click here to register on ITAS for electronic filing'. Choose a username and password, give a working email address, submit, then open the mail from ITAS email services and click the activation link.
- Sign in, read and accept the terms and conditions. You land on the Welcome page.
- Bind or create your taxpayer record. If NamRA already has you, click 'Link your Taxpayer Account Here', complete the Taxpayer Bind page with your registered details and submit — you get a message confirming your taxpayer number is linked. If not, register as a new taxpayer from the same screen and fill in every mandatory field.
- Add VAT if you need it, on form VAT 1, 'VAT — Application for Registration / Voluntary Registration / VAT Import Account'. It asks for your TIN, your place of business, the address where records are kept, your main taxable activity and — for farmers only — your chosen tax period. NamRA asks for proof of banking details, a fitness certificate, the founding statement and your expected 12-month turnover. Once registered, print your Certificate of Registration from the portal; Good Standing certificates are requested there too.
How to find or check a TIN
There is no public TIN or VAT number lookup. The only online check NamRA offers is the Good Standing Certificate Validator on itas.namra.org.na, which validates a certificate someone has handed you. To recover your own number, sign in to the ITAS e-Portal and print your Certificate of Registration, or ask a NamRA office.