Sabrina N Gordon, Business Reporter

Taxpayers lined up inside a revenue centre in Kingston. The Inland Revenue Department has a new head, who began acting in the post May 1. - File

Finance Minister Audley Shaw has assigned a 28-year-veteran of the tax administration system, Viralee Latibeaudiere, to head the Inland Revenue Department, as part of his campaign to rout corruption, encourage greater tax compliance and stem the leakage of billions of dollars annually from the treasury.

Latibeaudiere has been in the post since May 1 as acting commissioner, but her appointment was not formally announced.

It only came to public attention a week ago when Shaw, addressing the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica's (PSOJ) economic forum, mentioned that someone new was at Inland Revenue as part of sweeping reforms aimed at nipping Jamaica's entrenched culture of "tax evasion and tax avoidance".

The minister had previously announced the appointment of former director of elections, Danville Walker, as Commissioner of Customs, which he told the June 5 forum was a "hotbed of corruption" where staff colluded with the private sector firms and their customs brokers to defraud the government.

The appointment of Sharon Crooks to head the unit that investigates revenue cheats, had also been announced previously.

New head

The minister at the time declared his intention to overhaul the tax administration system, saying: "... I have changed the head of the Inland Revenue Department (and) ramped up the Fiscal Services to make sure that we use technology in helping us to cross-fertilise information. There is a new head of the financial investigation division and just this week Danville Walker, the former director of elections has been named the Commissioner of Customs."

Latibeaudiere, who replaced Gay Mitchell, the former Inland Revenue head who is officially on pre-retirement leave, has for three decades worked in most areas of the tax system. Until recently, she was a deputy director of the Tax Administration and Assessment Department (TAAD).

The Office of the Services Commission which is in charge of hiring civil servants refused to speak on the changes at Inland Revenue, when asked whether Latibeaudiere was the sole candidate in line for the job.

Good leader

Minister Shaw confirmed to the Financial Gleaner this week that Mitchell was on pre-retirement leave, but said she was working out of an office at the Tax Administra-tion. She is expected to depart the service next year.

This is not Latibeaudiere's first stint in the job, to which officials expect that she will be eventually confirmed. She served as acting commissioner for a year between 2006 and 2007. Insiders credited her with improving procedures and systems to enhance revenue collection, but claimed that these were lost with her departure.

By government estimates, Jamaicans owe, inclusive of interest of penalties, over $138 billion in back taxes, far more than enough to cover the government's budget deficit.

In his speech to the PSOJ's forum, Shaw said that 68 per cent of the arrears was corporate income tax and he called for private sector help to deal with the problem.

"We have a situation where ... one per cent of corporate Jamaica is paying 75 per cent of corporate taxes," he said. "So we have a lot of work to do."

business@gleanerjm.com