Following the long-awaiting launch of the Taxpayers’ Charter, the Malta Institute of Taxation is now looking to continue to co-operate with authorities to give life to the aspirations set out in it.

The institute is calling on taxpayers and their professional advisers to be guided by the document and to follow up the rights and obligations expressed in the charter.

Only then will the charter become a live institution and not just another official document, the institute said.

The charter was launched by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech at the institute’s first international tax conference on February 4.

The institute said its efforts had received full backing from its colleagues in the Confederation Fiscale Europeenne, which organised a seminar on taxpayers charters in Brussels, and also devoted its 50th anniversary publication to an analysis of charters worldwide.

Most of the institute’s recommendations have been included in the charter, and it believes those that did not find their place in the published document will be incorporated sooner rather than later.

“We also hope that the tax departments will also set up a desk through which any complaint from taxpayers can be channelled and attended to within a reasonable timeframe,” the institute said.