Commissioner General of SRC to be given power to write off debts under strict conditions
June 05, 2021
New amendments being proposed to the Revenue Administration Act will give the Commissioner General of the Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC), the power to write off debts.
Currently there is no provision in any act that gives the Commissioner General that power.
It will be a Committee which will be set up within SRC, that will evaluate cases and make recommendations to the Commissioner General.
The Commissioner General will then make a request to the Minister for Finance, Economic Planning and Trade to write off long existing debts.
The Commissioner General can only act to write off the debts following the approval of the Minister.
Speaking to the press this week, the Director General for Tax and Financial Sector, Policy Division, within the Ministry, Seylina Verghese, explained that the write off measures are internal procedures.
“No other person can make a request for a write off. This is an internal procedure within the SRC, and the Minister will only consider request from the Commissioner General.”
The circumstances for write off of debts will be clearly spelt and they are as follows;
i. Serious Hardships -Bankruptcy, Serious Illness and Death of taxpayer
ii. Uneconomical Debt – cost of recovery exceeds the outstanding revenue/actual value of debt
iii. Others – elapse of statutory limitation period.
Ms. Verghese stressed that request for write off of debts will only be considered ‘after all avenues to recover the debt have been exhausted’.
The Commissioner General of SRC, Mrs. Veronique Herminie, told journalists that currently there are 52 potential debt cases that can be considered for write offs. They amount to a little over R30 million.
The amendments will be presented soon to the National Assembly for approval.