THE REVENUE authorities now have the capability to electronically track the activity of taxpayers at different points in the revenue system, using its new Integrated Computerised Tax Administration System (ICTAS).Using the Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN) as the link, tax administrators can now determine the level of compliance of an individual company or person, even for systems that are not linked directly to ICTAS.
Under implementation since 2001, ICTAS combines three separate databases General Consumption Tax, income tax, and statutory deductions and also links into other stand alone systems such as Customs.
According to Gay Mitchell, deputy tax commissioner, ICTAS is designed to give the taxpayer an up-to-date tax history, including amounts paid and owed.
Ethlyn Norton Coke, noted tax expert, puts it a little differently. "ICTAS is a horrible system, it has your whole life story," she told a Tax and Investment seminar, the latest in the series of forums organized monthly by Mayberry Investments.
The system details the taxpayer's personal history, excluding information on property ownership. And as it widens its links with other stand alone systems, the tax department is better able to pinpoint areas where individuals are escaping their taxes.
The new computer system "can track you, so you should pay your taxes," said Norton Coke. Failure to comply can bring fines ranging up to a million dollars, says Mitchell, and even jail time, with or without hard labour.
ICTAS links all revenue centers islandwide, and uploads information daily, thereby providing more real time information on revenues.
"We can provide accurate statistics to Government on collections," Mitchell advised the tax seminar held Wednesday at Knutsford Court Hotel in St. Andrew.
The system just as easily keeps track of who has filed their returns on time, and spits out compliance notices.
Mitchell warned that with the system now electronically driven, arbitrary requests for time extensions on the filing of returns would no longer be accommodated.
Such requests must come in at least a month ahead of the date that the party should file, to allow for the request to be passed through the system, or "else ICTAS will generate an automatic compliance notice saying you have failed to file."
But even where time extensions are granted, the taxpayer will still be penalised for not paying on time.
It "only gives the taxpayer relief from getting a notice to go to court," said Mitchell. "Interest penalty will be applied."
The tax administrator also told the forum that while they continue to bring other systems online with ICTAS with Heart/NTA and NIS now being worked on several bugs remained in the
programme.
But according to Norton Coke, Mitchell was understating the problems, adding that the system was not as up-to-date as the deputy commissioner was making out.
"I suggest that you call them every two months to ensure that their balance is the same as yours. If not, go down there (to the tax office) and do what you have to," she said, adding that once a compliance notice is issued, "it is hell to get it withdrawn."
Earlier, Freddy Gordon, another deputy tax commissioner, told the forum that Inland Revenue was concerned that businesses were filing quarterly returns on withholding tax, that is, tax deducted at source, when the law requires that they file monthly. The returns are due 14 days after the end of the month.
Norton Coke advised businesses that where they allow their customers credit on goods and services, they should still collect the GCT upfront so that they can file timely returns. "Don't give credit on tax," she said.
Failure to file returns on time will attract a one-time 30 per cent penalty and an added 2.5 per cent interest per month.
