F.O.I. director-general Edwin Calleja held a meeting with André Vinck, project manager (taxation) at the Pre-Accession Unit at the VAT Department, and Mr J. Lynch, EU expert on customer care, on August 25.

The main focus of the meeting was to discuss the perceptions of Malta-based industrialists on the local VAT and income tax systems, and whether there were any hitches in these systems being reported by FOI member companies.

Among the issues raised, Mr Calleja highlighted the long-standing problem of uncleared VAT refunds, which were still not resolved.

Discussion ensued on the possibly that the FOI would conduct a survey among its general membership, so as to encourage its members to highlight any recent problems they were confronting in view of the local VAT and income tax systems.

Before concluding the meeting, the EU experts also referred to the new EU regime, which will be determining how VAT will be collected after May 2004. The possibility of holding information sessions for FOI members on this new regime was also discussed.