The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service last night held a forum with over 50 employers from the Central Division to address issues regarding the online taxpayer system.

The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service last night held a forum with over 50 employers from the Central Division to address issues regarding the online taxpayer system.

FRCS Chief Executive Officer Visvanath Das says despite the adoption of this accessible and efficient service, more awareness is still needed to transform the approach of taxpayers from the physical to digital service mode.

Das is urging businesses to fully utilize the new system which was rolled out last month for registration, to file tax and possibly make online payments in a bid to boost the service delivery.

“So we don’t come back to ask you the same document again and again. And there is a date and time stamped on your lodgments so there is always evidence that you have. Sometimes you brought paper, we stamped it and then you lodged the paper, I lodged the paper. There’s a penalty that you want to waiver, you bring the evidence – this is like a waste of resources and waste of time. Might at that time be better utilized in your business for productivity and in my business for productivity as well”.

The FRCS invested $48m on this digital project to ease customer load.

The CEO adds they will carry out more awareness and consultation across the country before the scheme becomes mandatory.

“The idea was we want to hold hands for our customers to do it online. If it was completely not possible for some taxpayers than we accepted paper returns and still processed it as online”.

Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation Chief Executive Kameli Batiweti, is advising all employers across the country to utilize the system as it will also reduce illegal activitie

“And I would strongly encourage every individual and every employer to come on board with this one. Because this will eliminate fraudulent activities that have been prevalent in the past and what is exciting is the turn-around time is a lot shorter than what has been in the past.”

The FRCS CEO highlighted that almost 3500 customers registered on the national portal in December last year.

This he says was 1500 less than their initial target of 5000.