The Ministry of Finance said it was ready to roll out a wide range of new measures announced in its mid-March Budget, with government departments working to ensure the policies take effect from Wednesday as planned – the start of the new financial year, Barbados TODAY can reveal.
But on the eve of the introduction of relief from value-added tax and duty relief on those goods entering the Bridgetown Port, the Customs Brokers Association of Barbados said it was still awaiting clarity on what the measures would entail.
“Work is ongoing, but we are on track,” Minister of Finance Ryan Straughn disclosed on Tuesday.
In his Budget presented in the House of Assembly on March 16, Straughn announced a series of proposals designed to cushion the impact of the rising cost of living on Barbadians and to temporarily ring-fence the country from global shocks being triggered by the ongoing military conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran in the Gulf.
The measures slated to take effect on Wednesday include a $100 monthly support payment for pensioners and vulnerable groups (for 12 months), an income tax reduction for individuals, expanded and increased reverse tax credits, temporary government support to offset electricity increases, fuel tax caps and excise adjustments to limit price spikes, and a cap on the freight value used to calculate import duties.
Also coming into effect on Wednesday are an increase in the duty-free threshold for online imports, the removal of value added tax (VAT) and duties on select security systems such as closed-circuit televisions (CCTV), duty-free concessions on dashcams and GPS devices, a Special Needs Trust framework, the extension of electric vehicle concessions and battery-related tax relief, and continued VAT and duty waivers on water tanks, generators, pumps and septic systems.
But on Tuesday, Louis Forde, president of the association, told Barbados TODAY in an exclusive interview:
“The security equipment, except for the ones on vehicles, already import duty-free, but they were paying VAT. So, that is pretty simple for us to not pay the VAT, but as it relates to construction equipment they say is going to be collecting less duties by using a different formula, I have not seen any details. Normally the customs would issue any publications on its site, and I am not noticing any notices on the site as to what it is they are doing. Other than that, we would just be guessing.
“Normally,” Forde explained, “customs would see some memo, and hopefully they would have issued something to us, or the Ministry of Finance would have issued it in a way that we can read it. The previous Budget speeches had it all explained in the appendix, but this one hasn’t explained what construction material is. To be really specific, if it comes out with the tariff numbers, with the codes, it means there will be no confusion. But right now, general descriptions are all I have seen.”
He added: “But what happens is that customs in the ASYCUDA system influences it so that when you put in these items and you put in the right codes, you would get them duty-free. But the problem is for you on the outside to know which items they are. So, you need to get some listing for everybody to understand what’s going on.”
The Customs Brokers Association, whose members act as a bridge between shippers and customs authorities to help businesses avoid costly delays, penalties or legal issues, stressed that they need clarity from the Ministry of Finance regarding how every item touched by the Budget proposals should be treated.
Forde said: “We need the Ministry of Finance to tell us and distribute some information as to what is going on. I have some people sending me documents, and we are not doing them yet. We are waiting to see what’s going on. We have shipments coming in this week, and obviously people don’t want to lose out on duty-free because they wouldn’t be able to get things sold when other people are bringing in duty-free. So, we are waiting and everybody is waiting. Customs normally publish these things here on the ASYCUDA website, and I am not seeing it here.”
The National Insurance and Social Security Service (NISSS) confirmed on Tuesday that it will be administering the Cost-of-Living Cash Credit (COLCC) to eligible Barbadians from next month.
Chief Executive Officer of the NISSS Kim Tudor told Barbados TODAY: “The NISSS leadership is currently finalising administrative logistics with the Ministry of Finance and will shortly issue a media statement to give the public guidance on COLCC eligibility criteria and how funds will be disbursed.”
As far as the fuel tax cap and excise adjustment to limit price spikes are concerned, president of the Petroleum Dealers Association Aldo Ho-Kong-King said any changes in prices at the pump are a straightforward exercise.
Ho-Kong-King told Barbados TODAY: “That cap is meant for future increases. So, when we are given the cost, we put it in, just as whenever the price changes. That’s it. Remember they had a cap on VAT already. So, it’s nothing new. I think it is more of them continuing with the measures to stop the price from being so high.”
“But from our side,” he added, “we just put in the price at the pump. That’s it… straightforward stuff.”
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