The government continues to urge companies that are in debt for their contributions to regularize their situation, within the framework of the decree that establishes the forgiveness of fines and reduction of interest for late payment by taxpayers of the mandatory social security system.

Approved by the Council of Ministers in May 2021 and lasting for one year, the measure aims to relieve companies of the financial burden of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

When the decree went into effect, there were more than 6,000 companies registered with debts in social security contributions. Part of this number has already regularized its situation, benefiting from the forgiveness of fines and reduction of interest on late payments.

So far, the extraordinary regime has enabled the National Institute of Social Security (INSS), manager of the mandatory social security system, to recover 250 million meticais, according to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MITSS), Emídio Mavila.

Mavila was speaking to the press last Friday in Maputo city, on the sidelines of the second plenary session of the Labor Consultative Commission (CCT), which, among other points, assessed the status of implementation of this decree.

The spokesman explained that by settling their contribution debts within the period of this measure, companies have their fines forgiven and late payment interest reduced to a maximum of 98%.

"Even incumbent companies, which are not yet registered in the INSS system, have an opportunity to register without incurring fines," he added.

The forgiveness of fines and reduction of interest applies to employers, self-employed workers, with debts of contributions, fines and interest, or who are interested in joining.

According to the legal instrument, the measure includes those who, for whatever reason, have never enrolled in the compulsory social security system or who have proceedings pending for the compulsory collection of their contribution debts.