Tax crimes account for 86% of cases, but scams get more attention

More discussion and action should be directed towards tax crimes rather than financial scams, says Standing Committee on Economic Affairs deputy chair Premila Kumar.

Ms Kumar said recent reports by the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) showed that tax crimes accounted for 86 per cent of cases, compared with 34 per cent for scams.

She said there was a perception that scamming was more prevalent in Fiji than tax crime and this needed to change.

“The perception is more on scams than tax crime, so somehow there needs to be a lot more conversation on tax crime because we have a lot more work being done when it comes to scams, but how can we not have tax crime conversation as a key issue in the country?” Ms Kumar said.

Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor Ariff Ali said the focus for years had been on compliance.

“To me it is about tax compliance, so we have a few scammers around but really, we have more people who are not paying tax, avoiding or not paying the right amount.

“Once we start targeting revenue then, we are not saying we are not focusing on compliance, we are focusing on a dollar amount.

“What we should target is making sure that everyone is compliant and there is no tax fraud,” he said while submitting the Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit’s 2024 Annual Report.

Mr Ali said stronger attention to tax compliance could lead to investigations into people helping to conceal financial crimes.

“Then we go on to see who is assisting them, is it an individual or is it through an accountant or accounting firm.”

Ms Kumar also suggested that the FFIU clearly indicate its targets for a given year rather than provide an activity report showing concerning figures.