Joe Waight Confirms Audit of B.T.L.’s GST Payments
An audit of Belize Telemedia Limited to determine whether it owes anything in taxes to the GST Department is underway and nearing completion. Financial Secretary Joseph Waight is on record confirming that a review of the company’s financials is being conducted. Whether the telecoms company is in arrears or up to date on its GST payments will be determined at the end of the exercise.
Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary
“The audit is ongoing, the tax people, I just spoke to one of the auditors just now. It’s basically getting the information from the company and being able to analyze. See the company is big and has several subsidiaries and depending how they treat intra-transfers, so walking through, from one to another, selling of data from one to another, the information is coming and we expect the audit to be finished fairly soon, another two weeks to a month.”
Joseph Waight
Reporter
“Sir, in your estimation, what has caused this confusion where there is the suggestion that B.T.L. didn’t owe and there is the suggestion that it does. What, in your mind, caused this confusion?”
Joseph Waight
“I am not in the details of the audit but I suspect one of the key is double counting, charging each step of the way and not giving credits. If you sell from A to B in the GST system, you pay and you get a credit and each time you move there is an input and an output and I suspect the problem is there.”
Isani Cayetano
“Did this lead to perhaps a miscommunication between the government and of course the chairmanship of B.T.L.?”
Joseph Waight
“I don’t know, B.T.L. has a board of directors, I would imagine it’s more with the accounting division within B.T.L., providing information timely so that, auditors also acting timely to be able to follow through with the flow of money within the company, from the purchase to the final use of the items, of the product.”
Reporter
“Sir, as far as you are aware, is there evidence in the audit so far that shows that maybe B.T.L. does owe or there’s no conclusive…”
Joseph Waight
“I can’t say at this stage. B.T.L. was correct in saying that there’s no assessment so they’re up to date from their point of view. If there’s an audit which generates an assessment, well that’s a new story, but they were correct in saying that there were no arrears because there was no demand, there was no assessment.”
