Imbert: $750M received during tax amnesty

Explaining this was the result of mainly of outstanding payments being remitted by companies during the period of the amnesty, Imbert said there is a view, “that if you continually give amnesties people will continually avoid paying taxes in order penalties and interests and then pay during the period of the amnesty, thereby escaping penalties and interests.” The minister continued, “Be that as it may, we received a considerable sum of money in fiscal 2016 as a result of the tax amnesty, in excess of $500 million. I think the actual figure is $750 million.”

Imbert said this money will help in no small measure, “to manage our finances and to run the country in 2016.” Reiterating Government’s commitment to improve the administration of the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR), Imbert said, “The amnesty certainly did work in 2016.” Imbert later revealed an initiative by the former government resulted in the, “provision of additional collateral of $40 million on a cross currency swap note transaction from US Dollars to (Japanese) Yen.”

Imbert said, “The former government when it went on a roadshow in 2012, while out there raising money, mysteriously agreed to a currency swap arrangement with Citibank where the Government of TT... undertook to gamble...the previous government...undertook to gamble...on the exchange rate of the Japanese Yen versus the exchange rate of the US Dollar.”