MANY Supermarkets are yet to remove Value Added Tax (VAT) from the zero-rated items as announced by the Minister of Finance Colm Imbert.
This according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in a release on Friday.
It stated that the Consumer Protection and Safety Act Chapter 82:34 of 1985 allows for the monitoring of all goods. This law states that the Consumer Affairs Division (CAD) is responsible for keeping under review “the carrying on of commercial activities in Trinidad and Tobago which relate to goods supplied to consumers in T&T or produced with a view to their being so supplied.”
The release stated that CAD undertook the collection of prices at 32 supermarkets within 16 areas across Trinidad.
“An initial monitoring exercise was conducted between October 30-31, 2021 and then on November 02, 2021. The purpose of this exercise was to determine whether or not supermarkets were in compliance with the aforementioned Legal Notice.”
It stated, “During this period, most supermarkets were found to be in a transitional phase with regard to removing VAT on relevant items. Officers of the CAD then revisited these supermarkets between November 6 to 7, 2021 to further gauge, through the collection and comparison of price data, whether the supermarkets were compliant with Legal Notice 259.
“Further, it serves as a reminder to supermarket owners who are not yet fully compliant with Legal Notice 259.
“The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has noted that while many supermarkets have made the effort to remove VAT from the relevant items, there are many which have still not done so for several items, and even some which have not started the process.
“The MTI, through the officers of the Consumer Affairs Division, will be continuing to make regular checks at various supermarkets throughout the country to ensure full compliance.”
According to the Supermarkets Association of Trinidad and Tobago (SATT) items that will carry no VAT from November 1 include:
- Oil: Vegetable/soya bean, coconut, canola;
- Ghee;
- Peanut butter;
- Black pepper and other spices;
- Family cereal/cereals for children/ hot cereal oats/steel cut oats;
- Milk substitute, condensed milk;
- Instant/ground coffee;
- Black/green tea (3kg and under);
- Orange/apple/fresh juice;
- Still water (bottled);
- Canned tuna, mackerel, peas, beans, corn, mixed vegetables;
- Mayonnaise, ketchup;
- Roti skin;
- Soup (packaged);
- Geera (crushed or ground);
- Soya: chunks/minced;
- Ground dhal;
- Cheese slices;
- Table butter;
- Meat: pigtail, sausages (canned or otherwise packaged), seasoned meat. ham/turkey slices, chicken lunch meats, bologna;
- Biscuits and crackers.
