Help for tax delinquents

Nadisha Hunter, Staff Reporter

SOME DELINQUENT taxpayers, who could face strong action if they fail to settle their outstanding amounts with local tax authorities, are being offered a lifeline from their umbrella groups to assist in bringing their books up to date.

Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), in a statement yesterday, said the institution is extending a special offer to help taxpayers settle their outstanding tax obligations by March 31.

"Persons with overdue taxes are invited to come in with a payment proposal to clear their principal amounts owed. Any payment proposal must, however, be accompanied with a deposit. The terms for settling outstanding interest and penalties will then be negotiated," the tax department said.

But some associations are not leaving their members on their own.

President of the Jamaican Bar Association, Ian Wilkinson, said the association was working with the members to encourage compliance.

"We have been getting people to deal with the matter as much as we can. We have had seminars. We are in the process of arranging for special assistance in terms of consultants.

"So the Bar Association is in the process of arranging for a number of practitioners to conduct seminars as to how people can run their businesses and how best to be compliant," he said.

Effective strategy

He was optimistic that the strategy would be effective in helping persons who were either non-compliant or not ready to file their returns to get up to date with the tax department.

Chairman and executive director of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association, Charles Campbell, said the association had approached the TAJ for its assistance in sensitising its members about their tax obligations.

"We got a commitment from them to assist members of the entertainment industry to sit with them and to walk them through the various processes that are required to meet their tax obligations," he said.

Director of communications at the TAJ, Meris Haughton, said there were delinquent persons right across the spectrum.

"We do recognise that persons are having difficulties with making their payments and, from our analysis, because the amount keep growing, persons seem to stay out even more because they can't pay all of what is owed at one time," he said.

During his Budget presentation last April, former Minister of Finance Audley Shaw announced that the taxman would be targeting professionals, such as lawyers and doctors, and artisans such as masons who, he said, were not paying their fair share of taxes.

The action that can be taken against persons who are delinquent taxpayers depends on the type of tax. They include:

• The person can be taken to court;
• The person can be arrested;
• His/her assets can be seized.