OVER $100 million in unpaid tax is owed to the Fiji Government, the tax office has disclosed along with revelations that it is closely watching the activities of Fijian taxpayers as part of “modernising how we identify emerging risks”.
At yesterday’s launch of the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) Compliance Improvement Strategy (CIS) 2025 to 2028, its blueprint for strengthening tax compliance over the next three years, chief executive officer Udit Singh said FRCS projects such as the VAT Compliance Campaign and the VAT Quick Wins initiatives were helping them recover revenue where traditional monitoring would fall short and to date, the VAT compliance campaigns have uncovered “around $45 million in liabilities, with around $30 million collected in cash”.
“We are also modernising how we identify emerging risks through social media monitoring and lifestyle audits by profiling new vehicle owners and mobile wallet activity, and by reviewing economic activity in sectors like homestay operations, the bus industry and other undeclared services,” Mr Singh said.
Overall outstanding taxes owed to Government in the last financial year however stood at $100 million.
“Since July 1, 2024, our compliance team has identified close to $100 million in tax liabilities with penalties of around $7 million, bringing the total assessed figure to around $100 million.”
He also revealed that the three-month 2025 tax amnesty program launched by FRCS in April and which ended yesterday had resulted in the facilitation of “close to 40,000 tax returns” and the remittance of around $75 million to state coffers.
The tax office had already indicated that it will not extend the deadline and in his speech, Mr Singh said FRCS would now transition fully into the enforcement phase, where penalties will be imposed on non-compliant taxpayers.
