The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service now has a price monitoring and surveillance team to ensure that duty and tax reductions are passed to the consumers after the announcement in the National Budget.
One of the biggest issues is that some traders are not passing down the reductions.
Revenue and Customs Chief Executive Officer, Visvanath Das says the price monitoring and surveillance team is working closely with the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Consumer Council of Fiji to monitor price change.
Das says the team has been conducting trader visitation on a regular basis.
He says the law also provides harsher penalties to those that do not pass the reduction to consumers.
The law also states the issuance of Customs Infringement Notices to businesses who do not change prices after the budget announcement.
Meanwhile the total number of people that are no longer paying PAYE in the country is 91,031.
Under the previous income tax threshold, a total of 76,464 people were not paying PAYE.
After the raising of the income tax threshold to $30,000, another 14,567 people are no longer paying income tax.
The total income tax now going back into people’s pockets is $26.86 million.
When asked by Fijivillage on the monitoring of the Plastic Bag Levy, Das says traders are required by law to furnish returns to Revenue and Customs on a monthly basis.
He says the return should state the number of plastic bags sold and the total levy collected.
Das says there are audit and verification processes as well as fines for non‑compliance.
