Caribbean Tax Officials Meet in Belize On Ways to Strengthen Tax Compliance

Tax officials from six Caribbean countries are in Belize this week, sharing ways to improve tax compliance, protect public revenue and make better use of their staff and resources.  The Belize Tax Service Department is hosting the three-day Compliance Risk Management Community of Practice Workshop at the Best Western Belize Biltmore Plaza. The event, now in its third edition, brings together representatives from Barbados, Curaçao, Guyana, Grenada, Jamaica and Belize.  Belize Tax Service Director General Michelle Longsworth explained that the discussions focus on using information to identify compliance risks and turn those findings into practical action.

Michelle Longsworth, BTS Director General: “What we’re doing is sharing experiences. We’re discussing our common challenges and we’re also exploring practical approaches to how we can strengthen tax compliance across the region. A major focus of our discussion is, or has been, how can tax administrations make better use of our digital systems, our digital data and information to identify compliance risks and how do we close compliance gaps and most importantly which many of the islands share is how do we use our limited resources more effectively and as always with any tax administration the ultimate goal is how we improve revenue collection. I think one of the most important things coming out of this workshop of what we’ve seen over the past two days and then continue on today is not simply about enforcement or meeting revenue targets. That’s important. It’s about education. It’s about building trust and about how do we help our taxpayers to understand what their responsibilities are. So all of us share the same thing. All the countries identify that education is very key and we need to place greater emphasis on the softer side of compliance.”

The participating countries are sharing their experiences, including approaches that have worked, challenges they continue to face and lessons from implementing changes.  According to Longsworth, there are multiple similarities across the region as tax departments work to modernise their systems.

Michelle Longsworth, BTS Director General: “For the most part, you find that we’re at varying stages. But as it pertains to the whole aspect of modernization you’ll find countries like Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, who have already transitioned to a revenue authority or a semi-autonomous revenue authority. They have been making greater strides as it pertains to implementing and improving some of the changes or the shifts in how tax administration or how modern tax administrations operate. And they are now looking, because they’ve introduced this for a few years now, they are now looking at the impact that is having not only on the tax administration but on their whole economic position of their countries. And so we are learning from some of them, some of those countries now based on the practical experience that they’re sharing. And then we have other countries like Curacao and Suriname, they now are looking to us, Belize, to learn from us on what we are doing and how our modernization is affecting us. So it’s a good opportunity because all countries present the stages that they are at and we have that ability to learn from each other. And what is important here is that we learn not to make the same mistakes that some of them made. So we’re learning best practices or good practices.”

Technical support is being provided by the International Monetary Fund’s Fiscal Affairs Department and the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre