St. John’s, Antigua: The Revenue Reform team yesterday announced that the planned taxation of employee benefits and allowances, a provision within the Personal Income Act of 2005, will be deferred until March 1 instead of January 31, according to an Antigua Observer report.
Project Manager Revenue Reform Administration, Everett Christian, told The Daily Observer yesterday that the decision was made to allow employers to put the proper administrative arrangements in place to facilitate the changes, and will provide more time to educate taxpayers on the move.
The project manager said once the process is complete the final draft of the 54 page document will be released detailing what will be taxed.
The Observer stated that the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has reiterated that the decision to fully implement the Act will not affect the majority of low and middle income earners, as safeguards will be out in place to limit any potential impact on those sectors. The revenue reform boss also indicated that the government is hoping to rake in close to $90 million in extra revenue through this proposed measure.
“The $90 million will not be solely as a result of the taxing of benefits and allowances. It also includes revenue from bringing a lot of persons into the tax net, persons who are presently contributing. So, we previously focused on the largest 226 tax payers, we are now broadening that net to include over 1100 businesses and individuals, professionals self-employed persons to try and improve the compliance in that area…That $90 million that we are looking at, increase in PIT covers both improved compliance as well as closing of the loopholes,” Christian said, according to the Observer report.
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