A company in the Western division was this week ordered to pay the Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority eight million dollars for tax evasion.

Chief executive, Visvanath Das, says while they have focused on voluntary compliance for tax payers, they have also increased the penalties for non-compliance in the hope that this will be an adequate deterrent.

“So now the penalties have increased to 25 thousand dollars, in some places, its 50 thousand dollars as well as imprisonment up to 10 years, so this simply sends the message.”

In the past, penalties for tax evasion and fraudulent transactions carried fines ranging between five to 10 thousand dollars and imprisonment of up to 24 months.