A desk should be set up by the tax departments to handle complaints resulting from the recently-launched Taxpayers Charter and take action “within a reasonable timeframe”, the Malta Institute of Taxation said.

The MIT said February 4 would long be remembered as marking one of the highlights in its young life. On that day, it held its first international tax conference and the Minister of Finance, Investment and the Economy launched Malta’s first Taxpayers Charter.

The MIT said it had been working for the introduction of such a charter for over five years, supported by the Confédération Fiscale Européenne.

Most of its recommendations formed part of the document launched by the Finance Minister of Finance. While welcoming the fact that Maltese taxpayers now had a charter to protect their rights and spell out their obligations, he said, it still felt the recommendations it had made and which did not feature in the published document would sooner, rather than later, be added.

Describing the charter as a good beginning, the institute said it looked forward to continued cooperation with the authorities to give life to the aspirations set out in the document. “The institute now encourages taxpayers and their professional advisers to be guided by and to follow up the rights and obligations, which have been so clearly expressed. Only then will the charter become a live institution and not just another official document.”