The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service says that they need to have a “shame and shine” policy where they can declare the names of people who are involved in tax evasion.
CEO Visvanath Das said this at the Fiji Institute of Accountants 2017/18 Fiji National Budget Symposium.
Das who was part of the panel discussion was asked whether Revenue and Customs can make the issues public without revealing the names of the offenders.
He says they have taken the approach of identifying issues.
Das says they are having customs investigations where they are identifying miss classification, undervaluation, setting up of phoenix companies for example the intentional transfer of assets from an indebted company to a new company to avoid paying creditors, tax or employee entitlements.
He says this includes buying houses offshore and over invoicing to remit funds offshore.
Das says that occasionally they have been coming out in the press with these issues without revealing the names of the taxpayers who are doing this, but the names should be revealed for transparency.
He says there has recently been a rise in the effectiveness of the whistleblower policy and one of the reasons could be that now whistle blowers get to come and see him directly which ensures confidentiality.
