Prime Minister Perry Christie yesterday said more than 41,000 homeowners could benefit from the Government’s decision to waive real property tax arrears for owner-occupied homes valued at less than $250,000.

Unveiling the 2016-2017 Budget, Mr Christie also re-introduced for another year the amnesty initiative that waives 100 per cent and 50 per cent of the real property tax penalties, respectively, for taxpayers who pay their arrears by March 31, 2017, and June 30, 2017.

However, he confirmed that real property tax compliance rates continue to be relatively low, with just 42.5 per cent of taxable properties paying sums due for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

“There are 99,556 properties on the property tax register, with 12.6 per cent classified as residential, some 57.2 per cent as owner-occupied, 23.6 per cent as vacant land and roughly 6.5 per cent as commercial properties,” the Prime Minister said.

“A total of 43,003 properties are now fully exempted from the payment of property taxes. During this fiscal year, 42.5 per cent or 24,008 of taxable properties have paid taxes amounting to just over $100 million.”

Mr Christie said the Department of Inland Revenue was set to this year embark on an initiative to improve real property tax data collection and imaging.

“The aim is to increase the number of registered properties and bring greater equity in both the assessment of properties and the overall real property tax system,” Mr Christie said.

“The reform of the property tax system is an extended process, made complex by historical under-investment, but the Government is committed to delivering to the public a fairer tax, one with a broadened base that will allow all taxpayers to benefit from a lower tax rate.”

Mr Christie added that the Government had collected $92 million in Business Licence fees to-date, and added: “The focus is now on education to allow businesses to improve compliance, as there is still a significant amount of businesses that are not meeting their legal obligations.

“From January 2016 to the present, the department has approved 10,430 licences, almost 70 per cent of which are for businesses with turnover of $50,000 or less.

“Another roughly 20 per cent are for those with turnover from $50,000 to $500,000, and some 12 per cent or so for those with turnover from $500,000 to $5 million. Licensees with turnover in excess of $5 million number 265.”

When it came to Value-Added Tax (VAT), Mr Christie said: “There are 6,361 VAT registrants, of which 653 file monthly and 5,708 file quarterly.

“Almost 80 per cent of the monthly filers and two-thirds of the quarterly filers do file on time. And, of those registrants that filed, 75 per cent of the monthly filers and two-thirds of the quarterly filers paid on time.

“Although not all VAT registrants paid on time, over 90 per cent eventually settle their obligations.”

He added that the Department of Inland Revenue was processing refunds weekly, and had received 1,661 applications, of which $6.2 million had been paid.

“The Department is now focusing much attention on improving taxpayer services in areas of refund management and policy responses,” the Prime Minister said.