New website to make paying taxes easier

Paying taxes just got easier. Yesterday’s launch of the Inland Revenue Division’s website —www.ird.gov.tt — promises to transform the life of the taxpayer by providing a means of downloading forms and booklets which will make submitting returns easier, in addition to instruction and guidance for persons seeking approval of documents in the submission of returns. Speaking at the launch, which was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Wrightson Road, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Conrad Enill, expressed his belief that this site would further the Inland Revenue’s objective of improving the service offered to tax payers by reducing the time and money spent in transactions.

It is one more step in Govern-ment’s plan to make Trinidad and Tobago a developed nation by the year 2020. It would also help to enhance the significant contribution made by tax revenue to the country’s GDP, he added. In 2003, Enill revealed, total tax revenue was estimated at approximately $14 billion or 21 percent of GDP. “The establishment of the website matches perfectly with this growth as we need these tools to capitalise on the opportunities presented in an ever expanding and diverse economy,” Enill said.

Cognisant of this fact, the management of the Inland Revenue Division has embarked on a major reform programme, which Enill explained, sought to improve the delivery of service and increase operational efficiency and effectiveness. In an attempt to strengthen the Division’s capabilities, the Ministry of Finance and the IRS of the United States have also signed a Technical Assistance Agreement contract under which IRS advisors were assigned to the Division to provide support and assistance.

The next two years, Enill revealed, would see a number of development plans for the website being undertaken. These include the establishment of a search engine on taxation laws and regulations in 2005, as well as the provision of links to taxation professionals in 2006. In 2007, the site is expected to facilitate a security mechanism for the identification and verification of taxpayers, as well as the introduction of electronic stamp duties on documents relating to mortgages and stock transfer, electronic tax clearance certificates and enquiry services for calculating debits in arrears.