The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A SENIOR accountant yesterday affirmed the new Business Licence verification will be an “intense process” but both auditors and firms “should be able to” meet the Government’s deadlines.

Prince Rahming, territory manger for Pricewaterhouse- Coopers (PwC) Bahamas, told a press conference to promote next week’s Bahamas Business Out- look conference that the more stringent requirements imposed by the Business License Act 2023 have created much “anxiety” within the private sector.

However, he added that the Department of Inland Revenue’s (DIR) collaboration with the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) has “created a path” where both the Government and business community can meet their objectives.

Companies with annual turnovers exceeding $5m must submit full audited annual financial statements to the Department of Inland Revenue by end-April as a means to verify their turnover figures and Business Licence fee payments are accurate. While they may be able to obtain an extension until end-June, those who fail to meet that deadline could be hit with fines and other financial penalties.

Those businesses with annual turnovers between $250,000 and $5m will be subjected to a “review” to verify their turnover for Business Licence purposes. Mr Rahming acknowledged the pro- cess is “not smooth sailing”, with both accountants and companies

facing “resource constraints and an overall lack of preparation”.

“Therefore there will need to be a whole lot of work around that,” Mr Rahming said of Business Licence audits. “I think that we should be able to do it, but it’s going to be an intense process. Now to put that into the context of the tourism presentation and the key players in the sector, I would say that the sector also has some concerns.

“But these are very large players, for the most part, who have already had the audit requirements in place, and so when I look to some of our own clients I think that they will be prepared in order to meet the new legislation.”

Mr Rahming said companies are also concerned they may be hit with “double taxation” should the Government introduce a corporate income tax, which is levied on profits, and also retain the existing Business Licence fee on top-line turnover.

While the Government’s ‘green paper’ stated that the Business Licence fee would either be totally, or mostly, eliminated for Bahamian businesses depending on which option is chosen if this nation goes down the corporate income tax route, the PwC Bahamas chief said the fear of “double taxation” was regularly raised in conversation with his firm’s clients.

“If I can take the conversation slightly further, there is some concern around the level of taxation in the country,” Mr Rah- ming said, “and with corporate income tax coming on the horizon, this is often the discussion that I have with my clients in the tourism space, in particular, as to

what taxes will be removed [and replaced by] corporate income tax.

“One of them might be Business Licence, because Business Licence taxes the taxpayer at the top line, income taxes at the bottom line, and so what we should try to avoid is double taxation.”

Mr Rahming will be on a panel for the upcoming Bahamas Busi- ness Outlook conference that will discuss new opportunities in the tourism industry. He pointed to the Nassau Cruise Port and the need to maximise the economic impact from spending by the thousands of passengers that arrive each week, contrasting this with Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA).

Mr Rahming said: “I know we’ve done a lot at the airport with the redevelopment. I mean, the LPIA is the envy of the region. When I have colleagues come here from across the Caribbean and internationally, they are just amazed by what we have done.

“So are we truly capitalising on those on the visitors and the people that are coming through.”