Angola's General Tax Administration (AGT) has extended to 7 August 2026 the deadline for tax obligations originally due on 31 July, after a cyberattack on telecommunications operator Unitel disrupted electronic payment validation systems across the country.
The extension allows taxpayers to settle outstanding obligations without incurring late-payment interest, fines or any other statutory penalties. The relief covers a range of taxes typically due at month-end, including Value Added Tax (VAT), Corporate Income Tax (Imposto Industrial) and Personal Income Tax (IRT).
The decision follows a cyberattack that struck Unitel's technology infrastructure in the early hours of 28 July, causing widespread disruptions to voice services, mobile data and internet access throughout Angola. The incident also compromised the authentication mechanisms used by banks, payment platforms and digital services, making it impossible for many taxpayers to complete electronic transactions required for tax compliance — most critically, SMS-based confirmation of bank transfers, a mandatory step in many Angolan payment platforms, which remained unavailable for several days after the attack began.
The critical dependence on Unitel's services for day-to-day financial operations, including tax payments, had already been widely reported in the days following the attack. Users described similar difficulties paying wages, making purchases and withdrawing cash, all of which rely on SMS-based validation to authorise banking transactions.
AGT urges taxpayers to act early and avoid a last-minute rush
The AGT also urged taxpayers to settle their obligations as early as possible within the extended window, warning against a concentration of payments in the final days before the 7 August deadline. The appeal reflects concern over a potential bottleneck as thousands of individual taxpayers, companies and institutions simultaneously attempt to clear obligations that piled up during the IT crisis.
The extension adds to a growing list of economic consequences from the Unitel cyberattack, which affected multiple sectors over several days — including banking, retail, transport and public administration. Analysts say the episode has laid bare Angola's heavy reliance on a single telecommunications infrastructure for financial and fiscal operations, intensifying the debate over the need to diversify the validation channels underpinning critical economic transactions, including tax payments to the state.
The incident has prompted broader questions about systemic resilience in Angola's digital financial infrastructure, where a single point of failure in a telecommunications network was sufficient to stall tax collection, disrupt payroll processing and paralyse commercial activity on a national scale.
Source: Mercado / Original article: https://mercado.co.ao/ataque-cibernetico-a-unitel-leva-agt-a-prorrogar-prazos-para-pagamento-de-impostos-ate-7-de-agosto/
