VAT goes online in security upgrade

Businessmen will have the luxury of monitoring and settling all their VAT issues from the comfort of their home or office after a major security upgrade to the government's online service.

The mygov.mt portal has also been given a makeover to centralise all the government services in what is effectively a straightforward one-stop-shop.

During a news conference, IT Minister Austin Gatt said that Malta had paved the way to becoming the best among the 31 European countries when it comes to the provision of electronic services through its IT infrastructure.

Users may now avail themselves of a digital certificate by applying through a registration office in Valletta (same block as Passport Office). A private "electronic key" will be created for specific computers to ensure total security whenever transactions are carried out through the mygov.mt website.

Users may log on and personalise their pages to access the e-government services they require. According to Dr Gatt, the VAT website upgrade means the Maltese government is among the first to utilise the National Electronic Identity Certificate system.

Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech said the VAT service was an important development in a business community constantly seeking easier and more efficient means of managing their finances.

VAT registrants may now submit their returns and manage their bills online and Mr Fenech expressed the hope that it would follow the success of the Inland Revenue online service, which is used by 83 per cent of all companies.

The new system could go a long way towards eliminating queues at the VAT Department and ironing out complications associated with manual processes.

Dr Gatt said that Malta was now phasing in a new era of electronic identity control. ID cards embedded with electronic chips were the next step with the minister saying that studies on this concept had already started. He envisaged that such ID cards could be phased in by the end of 2008.