Epsom salts for the Board of Inland Revenue?
THE EDITOR: I am a "retired person" receiving income from pension schemes. One of these funds paid me a sum based on increases in pensions (related to cost of living) in 2004. This lump sum was declared to the BIR before April 2005. Early in October I received an "assessment" (six months after BIR was told), and told to pay before the end of October. This reached the cashier near the end of November, and I was told on November 28 I owed same "interest" — which I have now paid. This "interest" presumably goes towards the cost of keeping people "busy" in Trinidad House, for seven months. Surely I could have received my assessment within a month, at the end of May. But the systems used by BIR are constipated — seven months and a few days to handle my papers, and I have to pay interest. Can I appeal against this extra tax? Shouldn’t the BIR or its staff admit their medieval slowness? Do they send papers about with "messengers" in khaki pants and cork hats, as in the 1950’s? There used to be a government "Organisation and Methods" unit — when did they last look at the BIR? Can I ask the Minister of Public Administration to prescribe a dose of salts to get things moving at 2020 speed? There must be many other taxpayers who have to wait for assessments; if I was entitled to a refund, could I charge BIR interest for holding my money for several months? MATTHEW G LEWIS Curepe
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"Epsom salts for the Board of Inland Revenue?"