A BARBADIAN?BUSINESSMAN says the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) should never have abandoned the old system of filing income tax returns in one fell swoop – it should have allowed the twoto run parallel until it was satisfied that taxpayers understood e-filing completely.
Walwyn Blackman of Spencer-Black Investments, who was at the time promoting a worksheet identical to IRD income tax returns in order to ease the burden of Barbadians for a small fee, said no business converting from one system to another could do it overnight.
“It is a convention that should have been run parallel, and only when satisfied that it is working perfectly do you convert it. Inland Revenue abandoned the whole system on a particular day and that was not the right thing to do,” he lamented.
Blackman, reflecting on a DAILY?NATION photograph last year showing long lines of people seeking assistance to file their income tax return, and a related story in December that there would be no assistance in filing this year, said it was unfair to cut direct assistance to the nearly 20 000 who would normally require help filing.
“As much as they want to have 100 per cent e-filing, I don’t think it will ever happen. I don’t think that the people in this picture did not have computers, but maybe in their mindset they may not have been able to do them.
“Some are elderly people. Inland Revenue officials may suggest that you do them online because it helps them, but there is a lot of information that can also be provided to them,” he said.
Blackman’s new worksheet, which is the same as the one offered by Inland Revenue, seeks to facilitate income tax claims for people who may need help filing theirs. He is also offering help to churches, trade unions, employers and even offshore companies.
“All they need to do is provide me with the relevant information and when I provide them with the worksheet, all they need to do is fill out the forms on the computer or at the Inland Revenue and that is it. My form does all the calculations for them.
“So for those who may not understand how it is done, all they have to do is look at the corresponding numbers and reproduce exactly what I have written,” he said. (CT)
