The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

and NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Government has yet to publish “half” its Value-Added Tax (VAT) Rules with less than three days to go before its new tax regime is implemented, Tribune Business can reveal.

Gowon Bowe, the Coalition for Responsible Taxation’s chairman, told Tribune Business that the private sector was informed at its pre-Christmas meeting with the Ministry of Finance that more so-called Rules had yet to be published.

The Government published 16 separate VAT Rules on its website last week just before the Christmas holiday, a move that caused consternation among several businesses and industries, given that they have little time prior to January 1 implementation to comply with requirements they said were previously unknown.

Now, with VAT set to be rolled-out this Thursday, the private sector is facing the imminent publication of more, as-yet-unseen Rules with just hours to comply with their demands.

“These are not the only Rules,” Mr Bowe told Tribune Business of the 16 published by the Ministry of Finance, and its VAT Unit, to-date. “Apparently, that’s half of them.”

Concerns over the late publication of the VAT Rules, which the Government is relying upon to address many of the unresolved issues with its new tax, were communicated to the Ministry of Finance at the December 23 meeting.

However, John Rolle, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, has dismissed assertions by Bahamian auto dealers that the newly-released VAT Rules introduced previously unknown requirements.

Rick Lowe, Nassau Motor Company’s (NMC) operations manager/director, told Tribune Business last week that the industry had not known it would have to apply, and post a performance bond, for the deferral of VAT paid at the border.

He said both these conditions were only recently revealed by the VAT Rules, which require that auto dealers lodge a bond equal to “100 per cent of the estimated VAT payable” to the Government in their filing period.

But Mr Rolle, in an e-mailed response to Tribune Business, said the performance bond requirement was contained in the VAT legislation.

“Section 44 of the VAT Act gives the authority for the bond, which the VAT Rule restates. So the foreshadowing of the bond is not recent,” he said.

“The Government imposes bonds as a practice whenever tax payment is deferred. Port licensees in Grand Bahama operate in this fashion. Manufacturers who operate under the Industries Encouragement Act have posted bonds for the import incentives they already enjoy. We have already indicated that the security already in place for these manufacturers would meet the requirement for VAT deferral.”

Mr Bowe, though, sided with the auto dealers over their concerns that nothing “definitive” in relation to the VAT deferral security was relayed to them until the Rules were published.

“It certainly wasn’t made clear to them that a VAT bond was required,” he told Tribune Business. “They’re being told today, so now it’s December 24. How are they going to get a bond in place by December 31?

“Things like that, for certain, are going to be problems with the transition [to VAT].”

As for the timing of the VAT Rules’ publication, Mr Bowe asked: “In reality, how are you going to sift through these and enjoy Christmas? That certainly isn’t going to be easy for businesses to digest and answer.....

“They believe these Rules address a lot of matters, and we’ve asked them to make clear how they’ve been addressed, so businesses are satisfied there is a legitimate basis to reach these conclusions,.”

Other Rules concerns pointed out to Tribune Business included the fact that all invoices must include the ‘recipient’ company’s Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) if they are a VAT registrant, giving firms just days to adjust their computer systems so they can place potentially hundreds of client TINs on invoices.

Mr Rolle, though, said this was not a new issue. “The requirement for VAT invoice is not new. It has been featured in the guides from their first release,” he said.

“Also, we have made it clear repeatedly in published literature that VAT sales receipts needed to have TIN information. We released more detailed guidance on VAT receipts and invoices in November.

“Added to these, the VAT regulations give businesses two months in which to become fully compliant with invoice and receipt requirements. This forbearance is necessary in order to allow firms the extra period if necessary to complete the changes to make their receipting systems compliant.”