Tax Administration Reform Gathers Momentum

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, has said that the Domestic Tax Administration Project, which was launched on Monday, January 12, 2008, is a critical element of the reform of tax administration in Jamaica.
“The new developments signal the Government’s continued commitment to facilitate businesses, modernise revenue administration, enhance the fiscal prudence and promote good corporate governance,” he said.
The Tax Administration Reform is concentrated on three main areas: promoting voluntary compliance; improving audit and collection enforcement; and simplifying customs procedures. The project seeks to consolidate the activities of the three departments, Inland Revenue, Tax Audit and Assessment and Tax Administration Services under the direct authority of a Commissioner General.
The new regime is expected to achieve increased revenue through significant improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation of domestic tax; contribute directly to macro-economic stability, stimulate greater voluntary compliance and collect more of the revenues due; reduce dependence on borrowing by making additional financial resources available on a sustainable basis to finance budgetary needs and be able to reduce tax rates through widening of the tax base.
The organisational structure and mandate of the Domestic Tax Administration provides a clear line of command for all entities such as collectorates, service centres, regional offices and the large taxpayer offices. In addition, functions such as taxpayer registration, collections and enforcement, audit and investigation will be rationalized.
The new structure will eliminate the duplication of services across departments and consolidate the information and communications technology, human resources, finance and administration services.
The changes provide an opportunity for better re-engineering of processes to improve efficiency and produce better information for boosting tax compliance. With better and sharper focus and with the segmentation of service to large, medium and small taxpayers, compliance staff will be more effective in the field.
A new feature to be rolled out in the coming months, will be the establishment of a specially designated “large taxpayer” office in Kingston, to facilitate the estimated 600 businesses with the greatest tax liabilities.