NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Opposition has slammed the failure at the Department of Inland Revenue to process business license applications as inexcusable and unacceptable, noting, “We seem to be moving backward.”
East Grand Bahama MP and Opposition Shadow Finance Minister Kwasi Thompson said in a statement: “There is no excuse for the failures at Inland Revenue. The inability to process business license applications and renewals in a timely manner is unacceptable and must be fixed immediately.”
Thompson that the FNM created a Delivery Unit which, amongst other things, was intended to bring a specific focus on the ease of doing business.
“We recognized that businesses and entrepreneurs were our customers, and we provided a service as well as collecting taxes. The PLP has ignored this concept. We had an Ease of Doing Business Unit that had a plan, measurable goals, and took specific action. The FNM, through specific action and using the same Online system, was able to bring the average time to obtain a business license to six days and business license renewal to six days. In most cases, small businesses were able to get their business license renewals within 48 to 72 hours,” said Thompson.
“The PLP ought to have been improving these online platforms, but we seem to be moving backward. The PLP must bring focus to improving all digital platforms to ensure they work for and service the public and not frustrate the public.
Timothy Ingraham, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation chairman, told Eyewitness News: “We contacted the DIR on Wednesday to ask about their plan for persons unable to file their returns by the end of January. We suggested an extension to the deadline for those unable to file due to issues with the system. The DIR has not responded. We did hear a report earlier that a statement was released, possibly from OPM, indicating that those businesses that had attempted to access the system before February 1st and were unsuccessful would not be fined. But we have nothing to confirm this at this point.”
Wayde Watson, the Bain and Grants Town MP, who, as parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and heads the Government’s digitization drive, stated in the House of Assembly on Wednesday that the online tax portal’s provider was obtaining the necessary “resources” to upgrade the site.
Apologizing for the challenges, Watson said the ministry is now speaking directly with the software vendor to mitigate those challenges. The new platform has generated numerous complaints from the business community since it was launched on January 1.
