During the celebration the Santo based officials agreed that Santo commonly now referred to as “a sleeping giant rising (waking up) on the horizon” is in fact rising at a very fast speed. It was also acknowledged during the speech from Manager North, Mr. Nicholas Godden that the VAT revenue collection continues to improve up North (Sanma/Malampa/Penama/Torba), however as large projects and developments such as – the extension of the government wharf, increase investments in hotels and resorts, new abattoir, increase in large businesses from Port Vila opening branches in Santo, road and airport improvements, the VAT Office needs to educate and work with business communities to get their tax affairs right, right from the start. The VAT staff were also encouraged to aim to make doing business in Santo easy and that the VAT obligations are well understood by all businesses.
The Santo Office has started to align all its operations with VAT Office in Port Vila and has taken the initiative to work with VAT registered persons closely in a partnership approach to tackle VAT related issues, find possible solutions, build and maintain good business relationships.
Furthermore our officers in Santo Office have been trained in the modernized Return and Debt Collection Plan and Process which was implemented early this year. The Plan encourages balanced and differentiated approaches to collecting VAT debts. The overall aim is to prevent registered persons going into debt and making people aware of their repayment options and tax obligations.
At the operational level our Compliance Officers in Santo together with a Senior Officer from Port Vila office will conduct compliance visits from Monday 3rd August 2015 to Friday 7th August 2015 around Luganville town, along Eastern Coast of Santo and will also visit Aore and Malo. The VAT Office would like to request that VAT registered businesses welcome our Compliance Officers so they can be updated with the new approaches and initiatives implemented by our Santo office.
The Department of Customs and Inland Revenue is also currently conducting a project on how to manage outer islands effectively. The project leader and the VAT Advisor have completed interviewing all selected key stakeholders and the draft project paper will be presented to the Directors Office within the next two weeks. The main purpose of the project is to get our operations in North right and operating like a business that ensures a level playing field for all VAT registered businesses in the Northern part of our country.
Our Santo Office is located at the Millennium Building, Luganville town.
For more information on any VAT issues, please contact the VAT Office by phone: 00(678) 24573 and 00(678) 37517 (Santo), visit us at our Office in Carnot Street, Port Vila or email us.
