The V.I. Bureau of Internal Revenue will shortly publish names of every business and individual who is delinquent on hotel room, gross receipts and excise taxes in an effort to get them to pay, IRB Director Claudette Watson-Anderson said during budget hearings Wednesday.
Better known for its unpopular 8-percent across-the-board pay cuts and slight tax and fee increases, the Economic Stability Act passed by the V.I. Legislature in June explicitly allows IRB to publish the names of those taxpayers delinquent by six months or more.
Right now, IRB is compiling a comprehensive list of those who are at least six months behind on these business-related taxes, and Watson-Anderson testified that the names will be published “later this month.”
IRB is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the territory’s tax laws. It collects corporate and individual income, gross receipts, trade and excise, production, hotel occupancy, fuel and other miscellaneous taxes.
Meanwhile, the bureau increased collection on delinquent accounts to $35 million, exceeding their target by $1 million, she said. By this time last year, IRB collected $34 million and also exceeded their target by $1 million.
So far this year, IRB has processed 14,605 tax refunds for a total of $49.8 million.
IRB’s budget for fiscal 2012 is $9.8 million, with nearly all from the General Fund, except $50,000 from the Casino Revenue Fund. The 2012 appropriation is roughly 15 percent below the 2011 appropriation of $11.4 million.
IRB projects $5.6 million for salaries and wages for 157 positions—100 on St. Thomas, 54 on St. Croix and three on St. John. Fringe benefits and employer contributions for Medicare and Social Security will consume another $2.2 million, predominantly for group health insurance and pension payments. Utilities are projected to run $200,000, she said.
As of July 31, IRB had collected $491 million of fiscal 2011 taxes, of which $466 million was for the General Fund. Some of that was delinquent and future taxes. In the last three years, IRB collections of past due taxes has consistently amounted to 7 percent of collections. Looking only at taxes due for that year, IRB has thus far collected $466.5 million; an increase from $459.4 million this time last year.
Bureau collection reports are available on the bureau’s website at viirb.com.
No votes were taken at the budget oversight hearing. Committee members present were Chairman Carlton "Ital" Dowe, Sens. Sammuel Sanes and Nereida "Nellie" Rivera-O’Reilly. Absent were Sens. Louis Hill, Shawn-Michael Malone, Janette Millin-Young and Celestino White Sr.