PRESS RELEASE (Source : Government Information Centre)

Response on employers' returns and notifications

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In response to press enquiries related to the Director of Audit's comments in Report No. 35 on the use of employers' returns and notifications for assessing and collecting salaries tax, a spokesman for the Finance Bureau today (November 15) made the following statement:-

The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) is committed to improving its administrative system regarding the use of employers' returns and notifications relating to salaries tax, in order to ensure tax compliance and protect Government revenue.

To this end, the IRD has set up an ad hoc committee chaired by an Assistant Commissioner to examine how best to implement the audit recommendations. The committee will also assess the cost-effectiveness and practicality of these recommendations, in consultation with concerned parties as appropriate, with a view to determining whether there exist better alternative means of achieving the same objectives.

The spokesman said that the Secretary for the Treasury,from the revenue protection perspective, agreed particularly that there was a need to put in place cost-effective and practicable measures to make use of both the employers' returns and notifications for the purpose of ensuring timely assessment and collection of salaries tax.

"She also notes that the Commissioner of Inland Revenue has set up an ad hoc committee to work out how best to achieve this objective by implementing the audit recommendations and other alternative measures, as appropriate," he added.

End/Wednesday, November 15, 2000

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