GRTU tells businesses to ignore VAT letter

Shop owners and entrepreneurs have been instructed by the Chamber of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises - GRTU to ignore a notice by the VAT Department demanding an update of personal details.

The department was trying to shift the burden of collecting data from its employees to retailers, the GRTU charged.

The department recently sent a notice to all VAT-registered companies and individuals requesting them to fill in a series of details, including e-mail addresses and income tax details.

But the GRTU is insisting the authorities should speak to it before making any such impositions.

It made it clear that they were instructing its members to ignore such notices until it was consulted by the "bureaucrats".

The department should have updated its information from the data available and not transfer the cost of doing so to retailers, the GRTU said. "Business owners are informed they are not obliged to return the form and should not feel intimidated by warnings from the VAT Department."

The GRTU appealed to the Finance Ministry to intervene and withdraw the notice at once, urging the VAT Department to stop abusing the exaggerated power the law has granted it.

"It's time for the government to turn words into action and reduce bureaucracy at once."