TWO COMPANIES of which Edward Seaga, the JLP leader, is chairman, yesterday lost their long-running battle with the Commissioner for General Consumption Tax (GCT) which had assessed them as owing $30 million, plus interest, on their Enchanted Garden hotel at Carinosa in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.
The companies are Premium Investments Ltd. and Town & Country Resorts Ltd.
Five Lords of the London-based Judicial Committee of the Privy Council who heard the appeal, unanimously upheld the decision of the late Justice Courtenay Orr on February 4, 2000, which itself had also been unanimously upheld by the Jamaican Court of Appeal on April 6, 2001. The ruling is that Town & Country, as the registered taxpayer, was liable to pay GCT, in accordance with section 33(1) of the Act, in respect of the taxable activity of the resort known as The Enchanted Garden, and not DHC Ocho Rios Hospitality Corporation ('DHC'). The companies had contended that it was DHC, an American company which operated the hotel, which was responsible for paying the GCT.
(In addition to the tax itself that is due, the companies would also be liable to pay a penalty of 15 per cent of the tax due for late filing of returns, a further 15 per cent for the late payment of tax and interest at 2 1/2 per cent per month).
The Privy Council also ordered that Premium and Town & Country pay the costs of the appeal.
