00:00 The Tax Appeal Board adjudicates a wide range of tax complaints and appeals.
00:06 And its chairman anticipates that the board will soon have more cases coming before it.
00:11 With the establishment of an inferior tribunal to deal with valuation of property on which the percentage rental value will be based,
00:18 that may be the first port of call and against those decisions you can take the matter to the High Court.
00:23 But in terms of the tax assessment raised against somebody's property, so if it's not self-declared for example,
00:31 I believe that those are a line of cases that are likely to come here and so on.
00:36 So it remains to be seen what will eventually happen.
00:38 I mean I think the latest pronouncement is that the property tax may come in maybe in about a year's time or so.
00:44 So, you know, a year is a long time, so it remains to be seen what is going to happen in that time.
00:49 Certainly we are ready and willing.
00:50 The board was granted a $9.9 million in funding for fiscal 2024.
00:56 But according to its chairman, that figure does not reflect the value of the court's output,
01:02 which he says impacts on roughly half the state's revenues.
01:07 The kind of money that is being generated from some of these cases is just from the energy sector,
01:13 let alone from income tax, corporation tax and so on, is probably about over 50% at the moment.
01:20 So the work of this court is absolutely critical,
01:23 especially when we see that the powers that be and so on are looking to enhance collection of revenue.
01:31 Outside of the energy sector, the chairman says many of the cases before it are customs and excise issues,
01:38 as well as issues relating to the non-payment of VAT refunds.
01:42 Finance Minister Colm Imbod recently announced that government is considering waiving VAT for the energy industry
01:49 to help the state pay VAT returns to SMEs.
01:52 There have been a lot of complaints by appellants who brought matters before us
01:57 that they do have some delay in receiving VAT refunds.
02:01 And the other challenge that is often, you know, seen is the question of the posting of the relevant funds or bond
02:09 to be able to pursue their appeal.
02:12 So some people have seen that as a bit of an obstacle, but that is what the law says.
02:16 So there is a discretion on the part of the Board of Revenue to waive that requirement.
02:21 The chairman also laments inordinate delays in the system,
02:25 as the legislation allows for assessments to be raised within a six-year period of a given tax year.
02:31 He's lobbying for urgent reform.
02:34 What we see here is that attorneys sometimes seek, sometimes maybe for reasons beyond their control,
02:39 adjournment after adjournment, and then beyond that if there is a further appeal.
02:43 So you're looking at maybe a good 10-year period elapsing sometimes,
02:47 which I think is not really acceptable in any tax system.
02:51 And I think that is definitely something to be looked at.
02:53 Whether the Revenue Authority is considering addressing that, I don't know.
02:57 I mean, we can only work with what we are given and so on.
03:00 But I do think that something needs to be done to expedite matters.
03:03 Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
03:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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