VAT team to conduct sessions in communities throughout Saint Lucia

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 – The Value Added Tax (VAT) Implementation Unit is going on the ground in communities around the island to sensitize the general public about the new system of taxation which government has decided to establish here in the near future.

According to officials, the VAT is intended to be a simpler system which is aimed at achieving a general reduction in the level of taxation on goods while broadening the tax base to include more services.

Chief economic analyst of the VAT Implementation Project Unit, Fleur Simmons, announced at a recent media briefing, that the unit will begin its sensitization drive in the north beginning with communities from the Gros-Islet town to Balata.

“Late last year the Cabinet of ministers approved for consultation a list of policies relating to the implementation of a VAT in Saint Lucia. These policies that the Cabinet approved for consultation,” Miss Simmons said “include the VAT rate of 15 %, with a list of goods and services that are zero rated and exempt, the VAT threshold of $EC120, 000.00 per annum, and the replacement of four taxes by a Value Added Tax which includes consumption tax, environmental protection levy, motor vehicle protection fee and the mobile cellular telephone tax.”

Residents of Vieux-Fort South, Castries North, and Laborie are alerted that the VAT team will hold consultations in their communities as well.

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