What Steps Should an Organization Take to Clear a Monthly Withholding Tax Form With The Tax Office?

Introduction:

As per the Afghanistan Income Tax Law, there are five types of the tax withholdings namely salary, contractor, rental, interest and dividend withholding taxes.

Once a monthly withholding tax form is filed and the tax amount is transferred to the Ministry of Finance bank account, the following two steps should be taken in order to settle it with the tax office.

Step 1: Caching

The following steps should be taken at the Caching Department of the Tax Office:

1. The tax assessment form along with the bank deposit confirmation or ACSS (Afghanistan Clearing Settlement System) form must be submitted to the Department of Caching to settle the liability of the organization in the SIGTAS (Standard Integrated Government Tax Administration System) for the related tax form.
2. Check and verify the tax assessment for the relevant month via the ARDES (Afghanistan Revenue Department Electronic Service) portal to determine whether the form was successfully zeroed out.

Step 2: Assessment

This process is only required for the rental and contractor withholding taxes. The cached tax forms must be submitted to the Assessment Department for the verification of the tax calculation as well as identity of the landlord or the contractors:

1. A stamped detail sheet for the contractor and rental taxes, along with the assessment and bank deposit confirmation, must be submitted to the Assessment Department. We advise to mention bank confirmation number, tax form number, the date of transfer, the amount of transfer, and the tax period on the detail sheet and on the tax form; by adding a separate note on the forms to mention that the assessment department verifies ACSS form, date and amount.
2. The assessment department verifies that the TIN numbers listed on the rental or contractor tax detail sheets are valid and then update their system based on the information from the detail sheet.
3. After the verification is completed, and the authorized person has signed the tax form alongside the detail sheet, you should take a color copy of the verified form and give it to the assessment department for their internal use. The landlord or contractors can use a copy of this verified form to take credit against their income taxes.