"Gaps in consistency" regarding family island business license receipts are causing considerable delays in value-added tax (VAT) registration, according to a Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) official.
Frank Comito, BHTA executive consultant, told Guardian Business yesterday that outstanding business license issues are "quite a concern" and have been raised during the BHTA's ongoing VAT workshops for members of the Family Islands tourism sector.
"We're getting a number of reports where businesses have not been provided with business license numbers or receipts from the payment of business license taxes, and that's a requirement for [registration]. So we believe that there may be some gaps of consistency in the processing in some of the Family Islands. We're hearing a lot of that," said Comito, noting that many businesses claimed to have made repeated requests for business license fee receipts over the years.
The Ministry of Finance released a complete list of VAT registrants as of November 11. The figures for family island registrants were heavily skewed towards Abaco and Grand Bahama-based businesses, with less populated islands, including Inagua and Long Island, each registering fewer than 10 businesses as of last week.
"That's why we're doing these workshops. We're finding out that the Family Islands certainly need more help in registering," said Comito.
Yesterday the BHTA held a VAT readiness workshop in Eleuthera and will conduct its final workshops in Harbour Island and Andros before the November 30 deadline.
Earlier this week, Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) CEO Edison Sumner said that basic Internet issues are partially responsible for registration delays in the Family Islands.
However, Comito suggested that misunderstandings surrounding the tax remained the greatest challenge for Family Island businesses.
"There are some situations where Internet is intermittent, but that's not a huge problem. I think it's more of an awareness [issue]," he said.
Inconsistency
Over the past three weeks, the BHTA has reached nearly 500 individuals from tourism-related businesses throughout the Family Islands, with assistance from the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Tourism.
Comito noticed a correlation between the published list of family island VAT registrants and the number of complaints he has heard regarding outstanding business license receipts.
"In places like Abaco you see consistency in how that's administered and delivered to the business community, and in other places you see what appears to be a real deficiency in the delivery of the service to the business community," he said.
Despite the lingering business license issues, Comito encouraged family island businesses to try filing for the tax while notifying the Ministry of Finance of any additional problems.
In a press release issued earlier this week, BHTA President Stuart Bowe warned against further procrastination from local businesses.
"Those businesses which wait until the last minute to register, or who seek to register after the deadline, may find themselves in a situation where they have insufficient time to be fully prepared when VAT comes into effect on January 1, 2015," he stated.
Businesses must register for VAT in order to receive a tax identification number (TIN), which is required to claim input credits.

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