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There has, however, been some concern expressed that in some cases where the taxpayer wins the objection, he may only get compensation from the interest on the Tax Reserve Certificate, presently at 5.52%, but his cost of raising funds to purchase such Tax Reserve Certificate will probably be double that rate. Further, at such low interest, there is no incentive for the Inland Revenue Department to expedite the finalisation of objections which may drag on for a long time to the disadvantage of the taxpayer, in not getting his money back Therefore, earlier and only being compensated by low interest.
it is hoped that the Commissioner will continue to exercise his discretion to holdover tax under dispute if a taxpayer's case has sufficient merit and proper guidelines be given to Inland Revenue Department's staff in this respect.
Finally I believe the proposed Bill will greatly reduce the number of frivolous objections, improve tax collection and go some way to alleviate the administrative burden and backlog of objection cases.
Sir, with these comments, I support the Bill.