Praneeta Prakash 
file photo
The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service is stepping up efforts to recover over $70 million in long-outstanding tax debts, some dating back more than five years.
Chief Executive Udit Singh says they are now actively targeting these aged debts using tougher enforcement tools, including bank garnishments and legal action.
According to Singh, this year around four million dollars debt was written off.
He says the FRCS is forming stronger partnerships with banks and the Ministry of Finance to improve debt recovery.
“There’s some debts that are uncollectable. And as always, whether the person’s passed on or they moved out of the country or they’re no longer operating, or they do not have any assets where we can actually effectively take a position against them.”
Despite the challenges, Singh says they have seen better results from struggling taxpayers who are making payment arrangements.
So our debt collection accuracy has been a lot better because of the number of measures that have been put in place. And we are working closely with the banks, particularly around garnishes, but also making time to pay arrangements with taxpayers.
Director Taxation Momina Beg says they are determined to reduce the volume of long-standing arrears.
So this year, what FRCS has done is, we are going to utilize more of our stricter or firmer approach. We have set up a legal team, lawyers have been hired, who can be utilized to take cases to court, especially in respect to non-filing and non-payments.
Beg adds that the agency begins with softer collection methods such as issuing demand letters and encouraging voluntary payment plans.
She says if taxpayers fail to respond, FRCS escalates to more serious enforcement measures.
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