A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to exchange vital tax information was signed between the Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority and the Real Estate Licensing Board yesterday.

“Under this MOU, FRCA will get access to information in relation to buying and selling of properties as well as the exact number of registered Real Estate agent in the country”, FRCA acting chief executive officer Visvanath Das said.

“A number of properties are sold every month and this MOU will ensure that we get some real time data on these sales and whether it gets reflected in the tax collection for that particular month.

“In most countries the real estate sector has been branded as a sector used to facilitate tax fraud and money laundering. This includes generating and investing unreported income,” Mr Das said

“In Fiji there have been few cases where large amount of cash has been used to purchase properties. The sources of these funds are also unknown. With this MOU we will now request for all these information from the Real Estate Licensing Board”.

FRCA is moving towards self-assessment and voluntary compliance, putting the onus of Compliance with the Taxpayers, ensuring that the framework of the VAT legislation and Withholding Tax Provisions of Income Tax Act 2015 is strictly adhered to at all times.

“We are working towards increasing business efficiencies through modernisation of processes and as part of Government’s commitment to facilitate businesses continue to roll out initiatives to provide support to contributors to the Fijian economy.

“This building of trust and willingness for the Tax Office to work in partnership with the business community and taxpayers of Fiji, is a unique approach to trusted trader initiatives in the bigger economies, where liberalisation of free trade agreements have been committed by jurisdictions,” Mr Das stressed.