3 days ago
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As the Belize Tax Service E-Invoicing Solutions Expo attracted a large turnout of GST-registered businesses, several participants left dissatisfied with how the event was organised. Business owners complained about overcrowding, limited seating, excessive heat and inadequate refreshments. Attendees had gone to the expo hoping to better understand the new electronic invoicing system and how it will affect their operations. However, some said several technical and practical questions remained unanswered. They claimed staff could not provide clear responses in some instances and asked participants to raise their concerns individually, even though many businesses had similar questions. One business owner, who asked to remain anonymous, spoke with Love News about his experience at this morning’s session.
Business Owner, Attendee: “I represent the part of the retail sector, the retail stores. And the first, when we arrived there was long line for registration and we couldn’t even register and all of a sudden the room was full. There was no room for everybody. And we were asking like, what’s going on? Are we just going to have to stand outside? They didn’t know. They didn’t know. And the whole thing was already starting and we were missing out a lot of stuff. And they finally moved us into another room. However and even in there everything just kept going off and off and they just replayed the same thing over and over and to answer our questions we’re supposed to go now back into that room. We tried to get into that room now after. There is no room for anybody more in that room. It’s full, it’s hot, the AC it cannot keep up, it’s a disaster. And when we were able to finally have a presentation and we were trying to ask our questions, they just kept saying, no we can’t really answer these questions. Questions is for later, we can go back into the other room. We can ask all the service providers the questions. And we’re like OK but this is also a BTS. It’s the Belize Tax Service Presenting why are you guys not able to answer questions on this? Oh, it’s the service providers. They have to answer all the questions. Well, our main thing is, if it’s the service providers why is the Belize Tax Service doing their presentation? Why are the service providers not having presentations? This is the tax service doing a presentation. The tax service is there to answer the questions. They should know the ins and outs of everything if they’re going to be implementing such an advanced system. We need the tax service to know what they’re doing with the service providers that they are recommending for us to have confidence in this system.”
Despite their concerns, the business owners agreed that modernising Belize’s tax system is necessary. They are calling for future sessions to be better organised, held in more suitable facilities and structured to allow clearer and more effective engagement.
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