Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 07, 2018 (SKNIS): Persons who are compliant in paying their taxes on time can rest assured that if for any reason they are not able to pay, they will be able to negotiate a payment plan, said Edward Gift, Comptroller at the St. Kitts and Nevis Inland Revenue Department, who appeared on this week’s (June 06) edition of “Working for You.”
“In terms of persons who have paid on time, one thing that we do at the department is that if we recognize that you have a history of paying on time and for some reason you run into some financial difficulty or other circumstances that do not permit you to pay, we always ask you to come in and then we normally have allocations for you to pay with a payment plan without interest or penalties. We may waive them because we recognize that, that person was very compliant,” the comptroller explained.
Currently, the Inland Revenue Department is offering electronic tablets to six persons who would have paid their Property Tax on or before June 30, 2018, online with the department.
“We want persons, who have decided that they want to pay online, and they pay on or before June 30, to know that the government is assisting in providing six tablets for those persons,” he said.”
Mr. Gift explained that if a person already has an existing payment arrangement with the department for Property Tax, he or she could contact the person to have that payment agreement re-negotiated.
He added that in light of the person’s commitment in terms of paying, the department normally provides a full waver of interest and penalties.
“Bearing in mind that is with any payment arrangement—once you bring that payment arrangement that is when the interest and the penalties would then become applicable,” Mr. Gift said.
Mr. Gift said that the department has recognized that there is an increase in tax compliance. He noted that the tax compliance rate for property tax has increased from around 27.38 percent in 2011 to around 47 percent in 2017.
“This has been by no accident,” he said. “The department has had a strategic plan in place where it focuses on improving compliance because we recognize that the only way we can ensure that we keep the level of our taxes very low is by having as much persons pay as possible at a time.”
He explained that the department’s approach has been broad in the sense that it recognizes that the same approach cannot be taken with tax evaders and persons who comply.
“Persons who recognize and always want to do the right thing, we have provided e-service options where they could file online,” he said. “We have expanded our services by providing more information on our website and you would hear it on the radio stations. We have established for certain customers relationship managers where persons, some of our larger clients, could contact in terms of having information.”
The comptroller said that when an individual visits the office at the department, they will be provided with a support team. He added that the department has also ensured that it has expanded its installment options, that is, where persons could go and pay part of their taxes over a period of time.
In terms of tax evaders, Mr. Gift explained that the department is moving towards making a publication list of the names of defaulters.
“We will also work with other government agencies to have the garnishment of their funds where we’ve issued assessment and they blatantly decide to not pay any taxes, but they still think that they can get a contract from the government. The government has worked with us in terms of that practice not being tolerated,” said Mr. Gift.
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