Re-register! New tax system being rolled out next February

The Inland Revenue Department is introducing a new online Tax Receivable System to empower the taxpaying community and enhance tax collections in the Virgin Islands.

This new system is expected to be rolled out in February 2023. 

The upgraded system — Standard Integrated Government Tax Administration System (SIGTAS 3.0) — automates the administration of all taxes and licences. 

Commissioner of Inland Revenue Karen Smith-Aaron said the department is about to embark on a public relations campaign to enhance awareness about the new system, highlight the benefits, and encourage the advanced re-registration for taxpayers. 

“Taxpayers are at the heart of the new system. They are now empowered to view their tax information,” Smith-Aaron said. 

She said taxpayers will be happy to know of the benefits of the new system, which enables taxpayers to submit a registration form online, print a registration certificate, query accounts online, check unfiled tax periods, follow the status of any pending request, and communicate easily with the tax administration through an embedded messaging centre. 

The Commissioner explained that the priority is the ‘re-registration’ of businesses and the registration of all persons of employable age.

This registration will be done via an online link where persons will input relevant information and upload all necessary documents. 

“We need all taxpayers on board. It is very important that we work together to get the data entered the system which will make the entire process run more smoothly. Once we get all taxpayers registered, persons will be able to begin paying online when the new tax receivable system goes LIVE in February 2023,” she noted.

Smith Aaron mentioned an official checklist of all the required information will be disseminated to the public when the online registration link goes live by mid-June. 

The Department of Information Technology (DoIT) is also a key player in the new system’s development and rollout with regards to training and maintenance. 

Director of DoIT, Annabelle Skelton-Malone said: “My team is proud to work on such a major initiative with Inland Revenue. We want to ensure taxpayers that it is user-friendly, and we are in place to offer all the necessary support to facilitate the registration.” 

Both IRD and DoIT are under the remit of the Ministry of Finance. Acting Deputy Financial Secretary (Ag) Jeremy Vanterpool said the system upgrade is in alignment with the existing e-government initiative. 

“The Ministry of Finance is cognisant that streamlining processes is very important. The upgrade of SIGTAS is just one of the many cogs which will enhance the machinery of government. We feel very confident that this will bring us the level of efficiency that we need within central government,” Vanterpool said. 

The public will receive updates on the new system and re-registration drive in the coming weeks.  

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