Mayor of Kingston Desmond McKenzie in discussion with Commissioner of Inland Revenue Viralee Latibeaudiere during a joint press conference held at the downtown Kingston offices of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation on Monday. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

SEIZURE OF assets and goods, even the selling of property, are options being considered by Inland Revenue officials to collect outstanding taxes owed by Jamaicans.

The proposed action by the tax authorities will begin in November when the Government's six-month tax amnesty expires.

Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Viralee Latibeaudiere, said Monday that her department was preparing to take strong action against thousands of Jamaicans, who remain delinquent in property and other taxes.

Corporate area debtors

Landowners owe the Government a total of $6.3 billion in property taxes. Of this amount, property owners in the Corporate Area account for $1.2 billion in arrears.

"Right now the minister (Audley Shaw) is dangling the carrot, but after the minister comes the stick," she told journalists at a press conference hosted jointly by Inland Revenue and the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) at the KSAC's offices on Church Street in Kingston.

She told reporters that, come November 1, the department would be pulling out all the stops to ensure compliance in all tax types.

Latibeaudiere said Inland Revenue would be recruiting persons to be trained as bailiffs.

There are also plans to rent storage space for goods and assets to be seized from persons, who continue to evade the tax net.

"We are going to take everything you have of worth for the taxes and, if that is not sufficient, we'll take the body to court," Latibeaudiere declared.

Inland Revenue said it would not be business as usual later this year, warning that properties will also be sold to collect taxes.

United states precedent

According to the tax commissioner, a precedent was set in the United States where the authorities sold the houses of persons to collect property taxes.

The tax authorities are planning to issue reminder notices for property taxes. If there is no compliance, a levy notice will be served by a bailiff. Further non-compliance could lead to the confiscation of assets or goods by bailiffs employed by Inland Revenue.

Latibeaudiere told The Gleaner that tax officials have had to sell two forklifts and two trucks belonging to a client who refused to settle tax arrears.

More than 10,000 notices have been served on homeowners in the Corporate Area to pay outstanding property taxes.

Meanwhile, the tax department said its drive to increase compliance for businesses operating without a trade licence was reaping success. Since the beginning of the year, the tax department has collected $38 million for trade licences, compared with only $15 million for the similar period last year.