By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government has yet to appoint its Value-Added Tax (VAT) Comptroller even though there are just five weeks left before implementation, with the private sector and Opposition crying: “Who’s driving this bus?”

John Rolle, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, told Tribune Business that he himself was “acting” as the VAT Comptroller until a permanent appointment was made.

He was unable to say when that appointment would be made, or which candidates the Government was considering for the post.

“At this point, the Financial Secretary is acting,” Mr Rolle said. “It’s not a permanent choice. Nothing has been done yet.”

The failure to-date to appoint a VAT Comptroller, and the uncertainty over when an appointment will be made, and who it will be, is yet another issue in a long list of unresolved matters relating to the Government’s tax reform centrepiece.

Yet the Comptroller’s naming should rank as a higher priority than most, given the immense responsibilities and powers he/she has been handed by the VAT Act and accompanying regulations.

K P Turnquest, the Opposition’s newly-elected deputy leader and finance spokesman, is among those pointing out that the VAT Comptroller has yet to be named or appointed.

“Who’s driving this bus?” he asked of Tribune Business.

And Rupert Roberts, Super Value’s president and owner, indicated to this newspaper that the private sector might have more confidence in VAT, and the prospects for a smooth implementation, if it knew who the Comptroller will be.

Mr Roberts said the chosen candidate would provide an important contact for the private sector, and could help answer its numerous remaining VAT queries.

“If we had a VAT Czar, we could call them and ask,” Mr Roberts told Tribune Business. “We’d like to get some information out of them. We’ve met and met with the others, and it’s been nothing doing.

“If they listen, they don’t hear. Why, in this whole game of tricks, can’t we know the VAT Czar? [Comptroller]. They’ve got to be independent. Who in this country with that reputation would take that job?”

Mr Roberts said he and other members of the Retail Grocers Association were “guessing” Mr Rolle would become the first permanent VAT Comptroller, but the latter yesterday denied that when the suggestion was put to him.

“We’d like to know who we’re going to be dealing with,” Mr Roberts reiterated to Tribune Business. “We’re good corporate citizens, law abiding citizens.

“We’re looking forward to working with them, and are hoping they’re going to work in a cordial manner with us, and that we will have a good relationship similar to the one the merchants have developed with Customs.”

The VAT Act stipulates that the Comptroller, who will be appointed on a five-year contract, is responsible for all the VAT Department’s activities, including how it exercises its powers and discharges its duties and obligations.

And, critically, he/she is charged with ensuring “honesty and integrity in the day-to-day functions and operations of the Department in the assessment, levy and collection of VAT”.

This, in turn, has to translate into “efficient and effective tax collection, and the enhancement and maximisation of VAT revenues to the Consolidated Fund”.

Underlining the power given to the Comptroller in law, and how important they are to VAT’s successful implementation and operation, the Act gives them the power to make VAT rules; decide whether and when the tax applies; and determine the processing of input tax deductions.

The Comptroller can also request information from any government body, which cannot deny his request, if he/she believes it is necessary for the enforcement and administration of VAT.

The so-called VAT Czar is also largely protected, it seems, from political interference in the day-to-day operations of the VAT Department, and its administration/collection of government revenues.

With such powers concentrated in the hands of one individual, private sector concerns that the ‘right appointment’ be made seem understandable, especially given already-frayed nerves over registration and the run-up to January 1, 2015, implementation.