Aiming to settle confusion in some quarters about whether businesses will be able to register for the new virtual bonded warehouse, Financial Secretary John Rolle is insisting that the Ministry of Finance has "a definite registration plan in place".
Rolle's comments bring a degree of clarity to an issue that has perplexed some in the business community: The ability of businesses to place themselves on the value-added tax (VAT) register and also their ability to use a new system designed to ease the transition to a new duty system to coincide with the VAT regime in what appeared to be the absence of a registration mechanism.
"Until the self-service system is made available we will be directly contacting large taxpayers, many of whom are potential users of the virtual warehouse, to enroll them as VAT registrants," he said.
Rolle said the timing of when the TIN (taxpayer identification number) is made available will not prevent importers from registering for the virtual arrangements.
"Customs will, if necessary, append this information to importers records. The manual version of the VAT registration form is being released to the public this week. Business are encouraged to use the form to assemble all of the data needed to process their application. There will be no requirement to submit physical documents, as verifications will be made against existing government databases, including for business licensing," he said.
"Once the self service portal is opened up, the enrollment process will take no more than 30 minutes."
The financial secretary - who is the principal financial officer of the government and charged with the care and management of the government's financial resources, including tax policy - took issue with the statement that it is unclear how the government intends for businesses to register for the virtual bonded warehouse by October 15, 2014. Still, the Central Revenue Agency (CRA), which will administer VAT, is not yet extant, and as the VAT implementation date of January 2015 approaches, businesspersons have continued to voice concerns about the registration process.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Michael Halkitis announced on Wednesday that businesses will be able to register online for VAT beginning October 13, 2014. Halkitis said the government is on track to register over 4,000 businesses by the end of November.
If the timelines for both registration processes are to be met, businesses must register for VAT by October 13, and must have applied to use the virtual bonded warehouse by October 15.

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