Elaine Palmer-Wallace, taxpayer service officer (left) at the King Street Collectorate, assists a taxpayer during the special taxpayer service programme in 2006. – File

THE TAX Administration Services Department (TASD) said on Wednesday that it was setting up more than 100 service sites to offer free consultancy to small and micro businesses needing help to file their income tax returns.

The plan, which went into effect yesterday to meet the March 15 deadline for filing returns, is offered annually.

The tax authorities - inclusive of Inland Revenue Department (IRD), Tax Administration Services and the Taxpayer Audit and Assessment Department - plan to use church halls, post offices, courthouses, police stations and other centralised community agencies to set up the service sites.

Info at collectorates

Full details of all venues, dates and times for the sessions in each parish are available at local tax collectorates.

Business persons using the service should take along documents such as their Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN), bank statements, purchase invoices, receipts, sales and other records that can be used to verify income and expenses, said TASD in a release.

Last week, finance minister, Dr. Omar Davies, whose budget is deeply in deficit - $38 billion to December, which was $7 billion more than programmed - announced that he would adopting a more aggressive tax collection policy to narrow the gap between inflows to the treasury and government spend.

Tax collections between April and December 2006 were $4.6 billion off target.

Taxpayers who fail to file their returns will either be issued an estimated assessment or taken to court, said the Tax Administration Services.