Still awaiting 2001 tax refund

THE EDITOR: You may publish this letter written to The Auditor General, Board of Inland Revenue. Dear Sir, Well here we are on July 16, 2004, and once again I feel it necessary to put pen to paper with regard to the non-receipt of my tax refund for the year 2001. Yes, you have read it correctly, 2001 and here we are in the middle of July 2004 and I am still waiting for my cheque. After my claim went to Audit at the beginning of this year and I eventually received notice to attend a meeting on March 24, which I hasten to add seemed to be purely as a result of my last letter to you, which queried the fact that after numerous calls, visits etc to various departments eg Cheque Staff, Tax Payers Relations, Audit Department, I could not get any information with regard to the status of my claim. Once again through my own investigation and not through any advice either verbal or in writing from the BIR office, I was informed by the Audit department that everything was okayed and that my cheque would be processed.

After waiting quite some months, remember this meeting was in March, I again started to try and track down my money only to be told, sometime in May, that cheques were not being printed until June or July. As shell shocked as I was at such a response, I left what was an intolerable situation until two weeks ago when I once again telephoned the various contacts at the Board that I had made over the preceding months. Once again, I was passed from person to person, department to department, until yesterday when I spoke to yet someone else, one Mrs Ottley, who evidently has the power to release my cheque and who after chastising me for calling her, informed me that holding the cheque was procedure while they verified the amount and that the cycle it was in meant that it would probably be posted out in another two weeks. This response, I must tell you filled me with such loathing and disgust that I could very easily have throttled that woman, with her smug, uncaring tone of voice.

How many years does the BIR need to verify an amount? What an absolutely ridiculous situation! Has no one there any common sense or sense of urgency? Are your members of staff hired for their complete lack of sensitivity and practicality? You and your staff are public servants, should I go into the definition of a public servant in order for you realise what your job entails. Give me a break! How much more time do I have to waste sorting out what should and could only be a straight forward transaction that at most should take a matter of months not years. No wonder people in this country avoid paying their taxes. This situation is absolutely unacceptable and as a law abiding, tax paying citizen I appeal to you to intervene in this matter and expedite my refund without further delay.

JOHN M LLOYD
Maraval