Barbadians given more time for tax amnesty

Barbadians have a few more days in which to take advantage of Government’s tax amnesty programme.

The Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) announced today that given the tremendous response to the programme proposed by the Minister of Finance on June 11, 2018, it had sought the permission of the Ministry of Finance to extend the application period for the amnesty.

The ministry has agreed and the authority will be accepting applications until Friday, January 4, 2018.

Manager Communications and Public Relations Carolyn Williams-Gayle said the tax amnesty was intended to encourage taxpayers who have been delinquent with their tax bills to take advantage of the programme to bring their arrears up to date.

“Over the last week we have seen increased foot traffic at our locations in relation to persons applying for the tax amnesty,” she said.

“We do want taxpayers to benefit from participating in the programme as it allows them to save on their outstanding tax bills as all of the penalties and interest will be waived once the principle is paid in full. Some persons have indicated the need for time to secure financing and an extension for the programme has been granted until the end of this week,” she explained.

The taxes eligible for the waiver of penalty and interest in this tax amnesty programme are Value Added Tax (VAT), Land Tax, Income Tax, P.A.Y.E. and Corporation Tax.

When Barbados TODAY visited some of the tax office locations a number of people were waiting in line to take advantage of the reprieve.

The waiver of penalty and interest apply to taxes owed to Government for the period January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2017.