Authorities in the Bahamas issue warning to tax defaulters

Tax authorities in the Bahamas have made the decision to execute the power of sale against multiple accounts that have defaulted, as their owners didn’t make use of the amnesty period and the payment plans that were offered to them with regard to property tax.

Shunda Strachan, the acting director of the Department of Inland Revenue (DIR) issued a statement in which she said that roughly 100 properties will be put up for auction and could potentially benefit the authorities, bringing in an estimated amount of US$36 million.

She also stated that once the auction process for the first 100 properties is complete, another 100 will be put up for auction in a similar fashion.

Strachan added that, “Power of sale is just one thing that we’re going to utilise. It’s in the act. It’s always been in the act, it’s nothing new. It’s just that we didn’t use it before.”

The DIR is also expected to influence the wages of those who owe the government taxes.

“We’re going to utilise those tools that we have. We’ve got to meet the target. We don’t have a choice, we have to meet the target” said Strachan, while highlighting the fact that the accumulation of property taxes in the nation has come up to the tune of US$900 million.

The DIR has also stated that the use of private collectors and several payment plans has failed to bear fruit, forcing them to issue a power of sale notice to 108 accounts via newspapers on Thursday last.

Out of these 108, 77 are vacant lands or properties and 41 come under the remit of commercial properties.

With this in mind, Strachan stated the following, “Previously, we were relying on collection initiatives like calling persons, and writing persons. We’re done with amnesties now, we’ve had so many of those. And we’ve offered persons plans and easy payment plans and the like. But now we move to more aggressive means of collecting because we will make that target. We expect that we will make it.”

She added that, “There are no payment plans. There are no more amnesties. All of those things have passed, and now we’re seeking to recover the full tax amount that is due on those account,” Strachan said, noting that the government must collect US$195 million in real property taxes to meet its budgetary target for this fiscal year.”

The plan that the authorities have put in place and its various benefits are apparent from the fact that the DIR managed to accumulate US$95 million in collections by the end of February, which is an impressive feat, to say the least.