Some promoters believe that small fêtes are being overly scrutinised by Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) officers who have resumed attending events to conduct audits.
However, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn said the resumption of these visits which were paused for some time, was their way to ensure there was compliance.
“We’ve been out of COVID for two years so all of those things should have been resumed. However, it came to my attention around Easter and I indicated that they needed to ensure that they were on top of it.
“. . . While [one promoter] may put on an event and come in and organise yourself, [another] might decide that they will not come in and regularise. However, patrons paid the taxes as advertised but those taxes [VAT] would not have been remitted to the Revenue Authority, so this is really for us to make sure that the compliance is there,” Straughn said.
He made those comments earlier this week during a break at the Caribbean Association of Pensions Supervisors’ (CAPS) conference and annual general meeting at the Hilton Barbados Resort in response to a question from the DAILY NATION about whether the officers were only auditing small-scale events.
Straughn, however, said that was not the case.
“As long as people are paying to go to an event, it has to be registered. I would say to promoters of all sizes . . . as the Government has committed to a 52-week calendar of events to drive growth in the economy, it means there will be small, medium and large scale events. Therefore, we need to be able to manage the administration of that in a better way,” he added.
A promoter who did not want to be identified said promoters, particularly those whose events were affordably priced, felt targeted.
Huge payouts
They questioned why multiple BRA officers were auditing, considering the huge payouts promoters had to make.
“What is the statement BRA is trying to make? You’re sending four and
five [BRA] officers out at night and I guarantee the salaries and the overtime that has to be paid is a lot more than the event producers are making. You have weekly $20 events, they don’t get 1 000 people . . . but the promoters still have to pay staff, security, venue and the stage out of the $20 they are charging. The event producers are now feeling it,” he said.
Another said the industry continued to be scrutinised although it contributed significantly to the country’s economy.
“Do they send BRA officers to the coconut vendors on the street to see how many coconuts they are selling? We complain that people are not supporting local music but yet, on the other hand, you are penalising the people that are trying to make a living and create economic activity,” he added.
Straughn, however, said they were only striving to regularise the sector.
He also said they intended to introduce a digital platform in the future to improve the registration process and make it easier for promoters.
“We are working to ensure we have a platform where all events will be managed digitally. Patrons will pay digitally so the BRA would not need to go to an event in the future.
“Once it is properly structured and managed, we’ll know how exactly many tickets have been sold and what the proceeds are.
“We will have a mechanism that is easier for the promoter to put on an event. They’d be clear that their obligations with the revenue authority have been settled, that any taxes that are due from foreign artistes are paid so that usual administration would be no more,” he said.
While they were striving to launch it ahead of the start of the Crop Over Festival, he said that plan was not successful.
“We were hoping to have it ready in time for Crop Over but, unfortunately, that is not going to be the case. Therefore as we go through this season, we will make sure we iron out any kinks before we go live with the digital platform,” Straughn said. (TG)
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