Twenty traders are under investigation by the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service for non‑compliance with Tax and Customs laws of the country.
From these twenty cases, five have been charged and are due to appear in court.
CEO, Visvanath Das says as part of their door to door visits, a total of five hundred and thirty‑five traders have been visited so far by their officers in the Central Division to check on their compliance level.
Out of these 535 traders, almost 40 percent have been found to be noncompliant.
Das says a similar exercise is underway in the Western and Northern Division.
He says these non‑compliant offences range from issuing incorrect tax invoices, not issuing tax invoices at all, VAT registered companies not showing the VAT component on the tax invoice and particulars on the invoices are incorrect.
Das says they are disappointed with the extent that some businesses and individuals will go to abuse the system.
He says despite the many public awareness campaigns, amnesty programs, support services and media coverage on voluntary compliance, some taxpayers are still running away from their tax obligations.
He adds that those found engaging in such behavior will face the full brunt of the law and the cases will be made public to send a strong signal to those who are dodging the tax system and think that they will not be caught.
