Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte is preparing to advise the Financial Secretary on how government should proceed with BTL in a case involving 25 million dollars in taxes.
The dispute surfaced in July when documents leaked indicating that the GST department had prepared an audit on BTL. The figures said that BTL owed 25 million in GST.
Well, in today's edition of the Reporter Newspaper, Financial Secretary Joseph Waight is quoted as saying that the audit has been completed by the Belize Tax Service Department and, from their end, it shows that BTL does owe the money.
But, there is a counter-position coming from BTL. The company says this multi-million dollar claim of unpaid taxes is due to a flawed assessment by the Tax Service Department. BTL says it has no taxes owing - and has gotten legal and accounting advice to confirm the same.
So, that's why the Fin Sec has turned to the Attorney General for advice. Here's what he had to say on the topic this evening:
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Attorney General
"The Financial Secretary being the person ultimately responsible for all the tax agencies has asked me to look into the matter for me to give a legal opinion on whether or not I think GST has a right to recover the money or not. So that's all he has asked me to do. Him being the Financial Secretary and being the tax agent, naturally he wants to recover as much revenue as he can, but we have to look at it objectively and yes, I am to render an opinion as to whether or not B.T.L. should pay the money or not. We are in the process of analyzing that and I would have to sit down with several members of the AG's team and then we will make a determination which, in our opinion, should be the case."
Reporter
"Is it your understanding then that the audit has in fact been completed?"
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Attorney General
"Well I don't want to comment on that yet, until given the full opinion."
Reporter
"Okay, sir. So what's the timeline are you expecting to be able to render that opinion?"
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Attorney General
"I am trying to get it done before the end of next week, but it could be before. I am told that there will be a house meeting next week Friday and so I would like to complete it by today or by Monday. We get so much to do and we like to complete our work very quickly as possible because people are waiting on a decision."
Email
Print