The Minister of Finance, Hon. Colm Imbert, MP, wishes to advise that in January 2025, Trinidad and Tobago was deemed by the OECD Forum on Harmful Tax Practices to be free from harmful tax practices, and removed from the list of countries with such practices in February 2025. The OECD Forum on Harmful Tax Practices…
The Minister of Finance, Hon. Colm Imbert, MP, wishes to advise that as of Monday, January 27, 2025, the Tax Amnesty had raised $2.38 billion in revenue.Compared to previous years, the current Tax Amnesty is now on par with the 2019 tax amnesty, which was the most successful tax amnesty granted in the history of…
The Minister of Finance, Hon. Colm Imbert, MP, wishes to advise that the Government has given the UWI Administration, which is the Employer of the Academic Staff at UWI, and has the responsibility to negotiate collective agreements with the West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT), an improved offer for a wage increase for the…
In keeping with the Ministry of Finance’s 2025 ‘VAT Bonds’ initiative, the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) has announced that persons registered for VAT (“VAT Registrants”) can now apply for the payment of outstanding VAT refunds, via VAT Bonds. The BIR further advises that the VAT Bonds would be issued on a first come, first…
The Honourable Colm Imbert Minister of Finance along with the Honourable Pennelope Beckles-Robinson, Minister of Planning and Development met with a visiting mission from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on Tuesday 21st January, 2025 at the Eric Williams Finance Building (EWFB), Port of Spain. The IDB Team was led by Mr. Jordan Schwartz – Executive…
The Minister of Finance notes concerns raised by the Daily Express in its editorial “Drowning in VAT bureaucracy” centred around the “tardiness in repaying VAT to companies” and wishes to address the issues raised.Cash flow constraints have resulted in a 1-month delay in completing this exercise, not bureaucracy.
On December 16, 2024, Moody’s affirmed Trinidad and Tobago’s rating at Ba2 with a Stable outlook. This affirmation is underpinned by the country’s return to sustained growth, primarily driven by the non-energy sector.Despite lower-than-projected energy revenues in fiscal year 2024, which have increased the fiscal deficit to 4.8% of GDP from 1.7% in fiscal year…
The Minister of Finance, Honourable Colm Imbert, MP, wishes to advise that in keeping with the Budget Statement for the Financial Year 2025, there is a waiver of all Customs Duty, Valued Added Tax, and Online Purchase Tax on the following, effective January 1, 2025 (see Legal Notice Nos. 249, 250 and 251 of 2024…
The Minister of Finance, Honourable Colm Imbert, MP, wishes to advise that the Tax Amnesty and National Insurance Amnesty introduced by the Finance Act 2024, which expired on December 31, 2024, will be extended to January 31, 2025. In this regard, the necessary Orders to extend the deadline will be published by tomorrow, Friday, January…
Excerpt: “To debunk the half-truths, deception and outright lies in that editorial, the Minister of Finance held another press conference on December 6th, 2024, and produced documentary evidence of the structural integrity of the project to the media from a range of experts working on the project, such as: These letters (attached) confirmed strict adherence…