Overdue taxes will be deducted for gov’t contractors in bad standing
Any business or individual that wishes to enter into a contract with the BVI government will now be required to get a Certificate of Good Standing.
This decision was taken at a recent Cabinet meeting on September 21.
In the decision document arising from that meeting, Cabinet said these businesses and individuals will be assessed by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) to ensure they are in good standing with their taxes.
“Where it has been determined that taxes are outstanding, such sum owing or a portion thereof agreed to by both parties, would be deducted in accordance with Chapter 206 – Income Tax, Clause 65A,” Cabinet stated.
SSB, NHI, IRD instructed to come up with proper plan
While on the subject of certificates of good standing, Cabinet also decided that the IRD, the Social Security Board, and the National Health Insurance (NHI) must collaborate and present to the Cabinet a Joint Implementation Plan in thirty (30) days.
This plan should outline how these three tax-collecting agencies will produce — in a timely and efficient manner — good standing certificates to persons and businesses that request these documents.
As that plan is drafted for future consideration, Cabinet further decided that businesses will get a one-year grace period to produce their Certificates of Good Standing and Certificates of Earnings to the IRD.
The grace period is also extended to applications for Social Security and NHI during the work permit and entry permit process.
Struggles relating to good standing certs
The latter Cabinet decision comes a month after Labour Minister, Vincent Wheatley faced criticism from Opposition legislator Julian Fraser for the government policy which required work permit holders to provide a Certificate of Good Standing — for both themselves and their employees — if they wish to renew their work permit and extend their stay in the territory.
Also, earlier this month, Premier Andrew Fahie announced that the government would implement a new policy that offered relief for many struggling business owners in regards to Good Standing Certificates requirements. The previous policy required outstanding payments to be paid in full before the certificates were granted. However, this approach was quickly rolled back and allowed for payments to be made over a one-year period.
Fahie had said the COVID pandemic along with the recovery from hurricanes Irma and Maria meant many businesses were facing financial trials and paying those monies up front came with great difficulty.
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Government is late as usual to the good governance and fiscal responsibility party. I cannot believe this is still so much of a thing that it warrants this level of attention while we’re out here suffering with poor infrastructure partly as a result of shoddy work from some of these same d@^^n contractors. Poor.
ALL of the tenders in the past 3 years I have made required multiple CoGS (SSB, NHI, IRS) as a condition not to be rejected out of hand. Obviously there are different rules for some..
Why would a responsible government give a contract to a company that has committed a criminal act by not paying their tax? Perhaps the same government that would make a criminal S of the H? Surely such a government doesn’t exist.
First benefits of the UKs involvement in the BVI are starting to show. Can you imagine what we can do if all this corruptions gets cleaned up!
so….to be clear….businesses not in good standing can still enjoy government contracts…just promise to be good boys and pay when you can…if you feel like it…within a year…or maybe later…
And I have been waiting for over six months for a Certificate of Good Standing… and I’m a Belonger – not a contractor though!
This is rubbish. It has ALWAYS been the case that a contractor of any kind wishing to contract with the government must have Certificates of Good Standing from all tax entities, in the case of companies they must have one from the Registrar of Companies. There is no need for NHI or Social Security to have a plan. Registrar of Companies can produce a Good Standing within the hour of an application. That’s not hear say, that’s a fact. NHI and Social Security can provide them within a week, two at most. I hae received Certificates from these entities since Covid. It is IRD that has always had the problem, from way before Covid and the ridiculous ruling of Good Standings and Certificates of Earning. It has never taken a year before, but the draconian rules that were levied on their already under resourced staff took them out of the running to do anything that was even as good as prior to Covid. Where have these members of HOA been? Why are they wasting time with this? Just tell Social Security and NHI to go back to business as usual. Give additional resources to IRD to help them clear their back log and get up to date. Maybe bring that department efficiently in line with the other tax collecting departments. Send resources to Inland Revenue where we are standing in the hot sun waiting to PAy THE GOVERNMENT MONEY. Elderly people with physical limitations are in line outside waiting to go in and pay property taxes. Good grief! How do they not know these things? Whaat planet are they on? If COI is causing this lapse in whatever is happening to these members can we please get some people to run the government who are actually in the BVI with the rest of us? There have been several women interviewed by the COI who came out with their heads high and dignity in tact. We’ve heard their reports read. We’ve heard them answer the questions and we feel confident that they were doing their jobs properly when all else were ignoring them. So let’s have the Auditor General, the Internal Auditor, the Attorney General, Mrs. Stout-Igwe, Mrs. Dabreo Lettsome, etc. Change them over to organize what is needed RIGHT NOW.
I had to wait in line for three and a half hours to pay my Property Taxes last week. The Inland Revenue Department is so badly managed:
– The computer keeps crashing
– The credit card machine sometimes has to be taken outside for a transaction to run
– Front desk staff seem to answer incoming calls rather than serve customers standing in front of them
– Front desk staff sometimes can’t answer simple questions like “how long does it take to get a tax number allocated now I have submitted papers”
– Nobody can tell you when you will get a Certificate of Good Standing approved that was submitted months prior
– IF a cashier leaves for lunch it takes over 20 minutes for the replacement person to arrive…
It seems that whoever is in charge is totally unaware of how long people stand in line, or otherwise they just doesn’t give a damn!
Governments going back before this special bunch have know who the “business people” are in the country who DO NOT pay taxes. They have seemingly never been penalized before. So make a special place for them, firstly Balsum ghut, which is where people who dont pay taxes should go as I believe not paying taxes might be against the law. Maybe it isn’t against the law. Who knows these days. But really having to wait in line behind someone with 20 years of back taxes who can’t even being to pay because no one in IRD has been able to figure out the penalties and fees, should be criminal to those of us who are always paid up before the 20th when those taxes are due. You know who they are, cut them out and deal with them seperately. Perhaps have them go somewhere where a Forensic Accountant can look at their “paperwork” and tell them what’s to be done. There is at least one Forensic Accountant in the Government. Government has always had a policy of taking delinquent taxes out of contract payments. None of this is new. Maybe it just hasn’t been carried out for some, but it definitely is for others. So get with the program that has been in place for donkey years and release the rest of us from this bondage of unfair and inhumane practices.
So will contractors now include their outstanding fees in new contracts with the result that the government will be paying their arrears? Or will they, not having sufficient funds do shoddy work? This is not a commonsense approach. Contractors who are in arrears with payroll deductions should be excluded from tendering full stop.
Online payment please. We are no longer in the stone age.
Simple. Don’t allow them to do any government work until they’re paid up.
Why can we pay property tax online. I thought we had a GIS system put in place years ago. Why can I go online, put in my registration number and pay on line. I stay right here in the BVI and pay my tax in oter Caribbean countries every year but we keep saying we are first world country.
Who is going to ensure that the COGS are authentic. This is a requirement for renewal of trade Licenses but every year these licenses are renewed because a COGS is presented to the Trade department. Are they really COGS that reflects the true standings?