During the 2016/2017 Barbados Financial Statements and Budgetary Proposals, the Minister of Finance proposed that the Government would again offer a tax amnesty which would run from 15 September 2016 to 15 February 2017.
The Minister emphasized that this is expected to be the last tax amnesty offered by his Government for a while.
The amnesty covers outstanding amounts due in respect of:
• Income Tax;
• Value Added Tax; and
• Land Tax.
The waiver is applicable to penalties, interest and other charges incurred up to 14 September 2016. In order to benefit, a taxpayer must inter alia settle the outstanding tax on or before 15 February 2017. The Barbados Revenue Authority has issued the following Policy Note which provides details on the operation of the amnesty:
policy-note-2016-no-07-tax-amnesty
(download PDF here)
This amnesty is expected to collect approximately BD$15 million which is a small fraction of the BD$568 million in outstanding taxes referenced by the Minister.
DISCUSSION FORUM
In these challenging economic times, are tax amnesties like this one (and the recent one in T&T) the answer? Please leave your comments in the box below.