Business owners can now apply for the payment of outstanding VAT refunds, via cash and VAT Bonds. Business chambers are welcoming the move, but they're calling for facilitation from the commercial banks. Rynessa Cutting has more.
00:00The Ministry of Finance says effective January 31st that refunds will be issued on a first-come-first-served basis via cash to persons owed $250,000 or less, and via bonds to persons owed in excess of $250,000.
00:18The move is being welcomed by the various business associations, but the Confederation of Regional Business Chambers says now the ball is in the commercial banks' courts.
00:28I am hoping that the government does not make the application for VAT bonds very cumbersome and bureaucratic, or also to retrieve or redeem the VAT bonds very bureaucratic as well.
00:41I think that the banks should come forward and purchase these bonds at maybe some kind of discounted rate so that the businesses will have cash in order to operate and business continuity will become less and less a risk in Trinidad and Tobago.
01:00Meantime, the Shogwana's business chamber describes the terms of the VAT bonds as constructive, but the chamber is still urging the government to implement more sustainable VAT refund mechanisms.
01:11While this may not provide immediate liquidity, I am certain that some arrangements could be made with the bank where businesses could actually encash those bonds for face value.
01:24However, I must take this opportunity to urge the government to address the systemic issues that led to these arrears in the first place.
01:33While this initiative is a solution to a long-standing problem, businesses should not have to wait years for refunds or rely on bonds to recover their funds.
01:45The deadline for VAT refund applications is February 3rd at 12pm.
01:50It's a tight deadline, but I think companies who are anticipating that this will be coming as at the end of January 31st, as outlined earlier by the Minister.
02:01And in this statement, it does say that if the deadline needs to be extended, the Ministry is willing to do so.
02:10We appreciate the flexibility of the Ministry, but I'm sure that members have been clamouring for this for a little while, and members will try their best to put their house in order so that they can receive these VAT refund payments.
02:24A six-month moratorium will be imposed on the encashment or transferability of the bonds for zero-rated companies in the energy sector.
02:32Contacted for feedback, the Energy Chamber said it will reserve any comments at this time.
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