The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian auto dealers appear to be “on the same page” with the Government over their border deferral of Value-Added Tax (VAT), following a “clear the air” meeting on Friday.

Fred Albury, the Bahamas Motor Dealers Association’s (BMDA) president, told Tribune Business that the industry was “very satisfied” over the outcome, which resolved its concerns over the processes for obtaining the VAT deferral.

“It was a good meeting,” Mr Albury told Tribune Business. “Everything seems to have been resolved. We all seem to be on the same page with regard to what is needed, and going forward it should all work itself out.”

The meeting was held after Tribune Business revealed last week how Bahamian auto dealers’ efforts to secure the deferral of VAT at the border were surrounded in confusion, with several fearing they were exposed to five-figure payments on multi-million dollar vehicle shipments.

This was because the industry had received zero information about how it could complete the processes for obtaining the promised VAT deferral.

Under the VAT Rules unveiled just before Christmas, it was revealed that auto dealers must apply to the VAT Comptroller to obtain permission for the deferral of border tax, plus lodge a performance bond (security) equal to “100 per cent of the estimated VAT payable”.

Yet no BMDA member had seen, let alone completed, the ‘deferral’ application form, while there was limited time to get the ‘bond’ in place before the New Year.

Mr Albury, though, said BMDA members were provided with ‘hard copies’ of the application form at the Friday meeting.

The same forms have now been posted to the Government’s website for easy access, with the BMDA chief suggesting that the bond process was now relatively “simple”.

“It’s more a lack of communication where things broke down,” Mr Albury told Tribune Business, “but we got over that quite quickly.

“They [the Government] were very accommodating, and hopefully things will go smoothly over the next weeks. Everybody felt very happy with the tone and outcome of the meeting.”

Michael Halkitis, minister of state for finance, also briefly attended the meeting, which on the Government side featured Simon Wilson, deputy financial secretary, and Charles Turner, Comptroller of Customs.

Rick Lowe, Nassau Motor Company’s (NMC) director/operations manager, who was also present at the meeting, said it was “a little more clear what’s expected” in the process of obtaining VAT border deferral.

“Let’s put it this way: It clarified a lot of issues,” he told Tribune Business. “They [the Government] understood and are trying to make it as seamless as possible, telling us to call if there are any problems and they will have people to help us.

“We can go back not doing the wrong thing, but what we all think is the right thing. It was very useful. We want to be in compliance with the law, and this helped to clear the air and get things on track.”

Mr Lowe added: “Hopefully we’re all comfortable with each other now that things are proceeding properly. It looks like it’s headed in the right direction.”