NSSF gives 90 day amnesty to defaulting employers

What you need to know:

Data available indicates that more than 174 employers have been arraigned before courts of law and more than Shs17.8b has been recovered in the process.
According to Mr Byarugaba, it reflects badly on the company for failing to remit employee contributions.

Kampala. National Social Security Fund (NSSF) is seeking to recover more than Shs160b, announcing a grace period of three months through which all employers must have remitted employees’ contributions.
Announcing the grace period in Kampala yesterday, Mr Richard Byarugaba, the NSSF managing director, said the Fund will in exchange, waive up to 95 per cent of the penalty amount owed.
More than 10,839 out of the 33,270 employers who registered with NSSF, have not paid employee contributions for a period ranging from two months to seven years.

Mr Byarugaba said that although it is the obligation of every employer to remit contributions on a timely basis, NSSF recognises that for various reasons, some employers have been unable to remit funds on a regular basis.
“Therefore for the next 90 days, we have declared an Amnesty for all defaulting employers to allow them negotiate payment plans with NSSF. In turn, we will waive up to 95 per cent of the penalty the defaulting employer is supposed to pay. This is on condition that such an employer comes forward, commits to clear all the arrears owed in a period,” he said.

Mr Byarugaba said they had already recovered about Shs13.7b since July 2017 from 380 employers who had come forward and committed to remit the contributions.
Section 14 (2) of the NSSF Act empowers the Fund to waive “whole or part of any penalty subject to such conditions as the Fund may determine.”