FRCS Engages with Businesses and Stakeholders in the Northern Division
As part of its strategy to further strengthen collaboration and to grow a trusted partnership with stakeholders and businesses, the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) organised forums, proactively engaged and visited business houses in the Northern Division.
FRCS held forums in Labasa and Savusavu which were attended by tax and customs agents, members from the Labasa Chamber of Commerce and representatives from Cooperatives in Savusavu.
The theme for the forum was “Collaboration for Compliance: Strengthening Partnership between Agents and FRCS” and the discussions during the forum featured several pertinent issues related to tax and customs including enhancing voluntary compliance, 2024/2025 National Budget revenue policies, tax incentives and duty concessions and re-activation of the VAT Monitoring System (VMS) from 1st August 2024.
FRCS CEO, Mr. Udit Singh, executive management and senior managers also took this opportunity to conduct stakeholder consultations in the Northern Division. While in Labasa, they met with the team from Kashmir Transport Ltd, Food Processors Fiji- Batiri Farm, quarry as well as other farming projects. In Savusavu, the team met with the Assistant Project Manager of the Nawi Island Resort to discuss the progress of development of the project and how FRCS can help. Our team was extremely impressed with the developments in both towns which are enhancing the Northern economy.
Labasa and Savusavu have 97,626 registered taxpayers and the total number of registered businesses in both towns is 13,824. These businesses include 8037 sole traders, 790 companies, 292 partnerships, 155 cooperatives and the remaining are other businesses which have generated approximately $57 million tax revenue from 2022 to 2024.
According to Mr. Singh, it was extremely impressive to see the economic growth in the Northern Division.
“The Fiji Government’s Look North policy has seen a consistent focus and development in the Northern Division, and we can see that the economic activity and development in the North is increasing significantly over the years,” he said.
In line with its Strategic Plan 2023/2025, FRCS is committed to maintain its focus as being a customer centric organisation.
“Central to this is our commitment to listen, gather feedback, implement improvements to the business processes not only focused on enhancing customer experience but also reducing the cost of doing business and closing any tax gaps,” Mr. Singh.
During their meetings and visits to the businesses in the North, Mr. Singh and the FRCS executive team had discussions on the tax and customs issues and the challenges faced by the taxpayers. The FRCS team assured them on working together on pragmatic solutions for the challenges.
“If we are to form a trusted partnership – we need to understand the concerns of the businesses and assist them. This is because we want these businesses to flourish and grow and FRCS wants to enable this growth as the growth of these businesses will contribute to increased revenue and economic growth for Fiji,” Mr. Singh stated.
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FRCS MEDIA CONTACT: Email: publicrelations@frcs.org.fj – Phone: (679) 3243035.
Last Updated - November 15, 2024