By AZP Staff
PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD – Individuals and companies have until September 15, 2019, to pay up their taxes without any penalties.
Finance Minister Colm Imbert made the announcement in Parliament on Friday.
He said the Board of Inland Revenue will be able to receive payments from Monday June 17, 2019 and that the when the Act is assented to, its provisions will apply retroactively.
He said the amnesty was “all-embracing” and will give everyone the opportunity “to clean up their system, pay their taxes be¬fore the introduction of the Revenue Authority.”
Imbert said this tax amnesty covers “individual, corporation, petroleum profits, supplementary profits, value-added, petroleum levy, green fund, business levy, hotel, insurance and a number of other taxation measures.”
He said, “What we’ve tried to do in this amnesty, is to cover all types of taxes and levies that are subject to interest on penalties for late payment. So we are waiving the penalty on all interest on penalties that are due and payable on outstanding taxes if virtually every type.”
The minister said interest and penalties will also be waived on gambling, casinos and land and building taxes.
Imbert said, “So, there are a number of persons who find themselves stuck because they have not paid their land and building taxes from ten years ago.
“They wish to engage in the sale of a property and the mortgage institutions are insisting that they clear it.
“But because they didn’t pay ten years ago, there are substantial penalties and interest that have accumulated over the last ten years, so this addresses that anomaly and allows persons to avail themselves of this provision.”
Imbert said the Government expects to collect $500 million in outstanding taxes during the amnesty period.
He said, “The last tax amnesty by this administration was in 2016 and it was for a period of two-and-a-half months and the target at that time was $500 million. But in the two-and-a-half months, we collected $750 million.”
