Acting Assistant Comptroller, Audit LMTS, Jeoffrey Joseph, has announced that eligible Dominicans have till March 31st to file their tax returns. He said anyone that fails to file their tax returns by that given deadline will attract a penalty. He added that people must file their returns between January 1 and March 31 which is the tax filing season.
According to Joseph, Dominicans must declare their annual income to the Inland Revenue Division (IRD) within the tax filing season and applicable taxes on the calculated incomes must be paid to the government. He urged everyone to visit the IRD to get their tax records updated in cases of uncertainties.
While is encouraged to file their tax returns in time, late filing attracts a 5% or 10% penalty in many cases. Joseph said persons who are unable to file their taxes within the stipulated period must inform the Comptroller of Inland Revenue in writing to determine if any extensions can be granted. He emphasized that this must be done before the filing season comes to an end.
The Acting Assistant Comptroller Audit LMTS made it clear that filing a tax returns is actually different from paying taxes.
“It is a different process from actually paying taxes, because you can actually file your taxes without having any liability…to pay any taxes,” Joseph explained. “Filing taxes is a lot different than paying the taxes. The filing process is a matter of making the declaration to the comptroller so that you can determine whether or not you have actually paid your correct amount of taxes.”
He clarified that people can file their tax returns in paper form, and they can equally visit www.ird.gov.dm to print out their tax forms and for onward transmission with appropriate documents to ird@dominica.gov.dm
Regardless of the financial year end for corporate organizations, the tax filing must be done three months after the financil year end, said Assistant Comptroller, Collections LMTS, Lydia Talbot. Companies with December 31 as their year ending will file their returns before March 31 and those with June 30 as their year ending must do the same before September 30, she said. This is regardless of whether a company makes a profit or not, she added.
Employed workers and self-employed individuals with an annual income of over $30,000 must also file their tax returns, and a category of non-residents are also expected to do the same. But pensioners and fishermen as well as farmers are exempted from paying tax, Talbot stated. Meanwhile, PM Roosevelt Skerrit announced that his government is working on achieving a simplified one flat rate tax system for all categories of taxpayers and that the IMF is helping in this regard.
“The IMF is helping us in reviewing the tax system, we have been held back because of Covid…” Skerrit said. “I am of the view that we should look at a simplified system and one flat rate.”
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