The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) has collected a net revenue of $190m for November 2022, exceeding the month’s forecast by $7.9m or 4.3%. This represents a higher collection of $79m in comparison to the revenue collections of November 2021.

Four months into the current fiscal year, FRCS has recorded a total collection of $767.2m with a positive variance of $22.1m over the cumulative forecast.

Comparative to the four months of last financial year, we have recorded an impressive growth of $330.3m or 76%

FRCS CEO Mr. Mark Dixon attributed the considerable increase in revenue to the impressive rebound of the economy with all key sectors showing a resurgence.

“The remarkable increase in revenue collection against last year by 76% as well as against our forecast exhibits the consistent recovery and economic growth across all key sectors of the economy.,” Mr. Dixon stated.

He added that the favorable collection is linked to a strong recovery across the major tax streams including the Value Added Tax, Income Tax and Customs Taxes.

The positive revenue collection for November 2022 is attributed to the following tax types:

• PAYE (Pay As You Earn) Tax recorded an increase of $3.4m indicating improvement in the labor market, both in the formal and informal sectors.
• Corporate Income Tax (CIT) surged by $11.3m compared to November 2021 showing growth in business confidence and improvement in the investment environment.
• Domestic VAT recorded a growth of $26.1m stemming from increased disposable incomes, inward remittances, and higher tourism-related spending.
• Increase in trade volume attributed to the $22.7m increase in Import VAT
• As we celebrate the first anniversary of the re-opening of the international border, the Departure tax collections have been very symmetrical to tourist arrivals. Four months into the 2022-2023 fiscal year, we have collected $19.8m, while collection for the same period last year stood at $0.3m.

FRCS envisages that the revenue projections for future months will continue in a similar trajectory

The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) monthly revenue collection continues to strengthen as the forecast has been surpassed for a second consecutive month. The strong collection has been attributed to the recovery of the tourism sector along with other key industries.

Net revenue for September recorded a total collection of $199.9m, which is above the month’s forecast by $4.7m or 2.4%. The collection is substantially higher by $78.1m in comparison to September 2021. It is also higher than the August 2022 collections by almost $9m.

According to FRCS CEO Mr. Mark Dixon, the considerable growth in revenue against last year September collections as well as against the forecast is showing resilience in the economy through the demonstration of strong recovery and growth.

The positive revenue collection for the month is attributed to significant improvement against September 2021 in the following tax types:

• Corporate Income Tax surged by $12.5m compared to September 2021 showing increased business confidence and a positive revenue outlook.
• Domestic VAT recorded growth by $24.1m revealing an increase in domestic economic activity along with the recovery of the tourism sector.
• Import VAT and fiscal duty increased by $26.2m and $5.9m respectively. This is attributed to an increase in the volume and the value of imports.
• Airport Departure Tax increased by $6.1m. The growth is attributed to the opening of international borders and travel to Fiji.

Mr. Dixon said that all these taxes are activity based and all of them are showing an upward trend.  He added that a similar trajectory is expected to continue as we head into the festive season in anticipation of increased imports, spending and consumption.

Meanwhile, revenue collections were not the only thing that kept us busy.

As part of our corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity, our Sports and Social Club members and their families cleaned the Savusavu Special School and the Nasavusavu District school last weekend.

“The corporate social responsibility activity at the schools in Savusavu was an excellent initiative by our team to do social good and give back to our community,” Mr. Dixon said.

“People often see us behind the counters collecting money but our CSR efforts show that we are also active in our communities, serving the Fijians and aspiring to bring about change.”

Mr. Dixon said FRCS will be undertaking more CSR initiatives in the coming months.

The Fiji Detector Dog Unit (FDDU) held an open day today for female officers from the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) and the Fiji Police Force to seek their interest in becoming K-9 handlers.
This year marks the 6th anniversary of FDDU and they have been instrumental in drug, undeclared currency and firearms and ammunition seizures. The Unit is currently male dominated, however, its leadership would like to advance the Unit with the inclusion of female officers.
Applauding the initiative, FRCS CEO Mr. Mark Dixon encouraged female officers from FRCS and the Fiji Police to join they FDDU.
“This is an excellent opportunity for our female officers to consider a future career as a detector dog handler – breaking down barriers, changing mind-sets and proving that there is absolutely no job in border enforcement that women cannot do just as well as men. It will open up additional avenues for women in our border agencies and enhance our capability in this critical area that helps keep Fiji safe” Mr. Dixon said.
“I am certain that our female officers will be just as successful in the K-9 field as their male counterparts.”
Representing the Fiji Police Force was the Director Human Resource Manager Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Meli Sateki said, “The FDDU’s K-9 capabilities, through the support of the New Zealand Police continues to be strengthened and it is an exciting time to be part of the Unit and we do hope that this open day will encourage more women officers to join the Unit”.
The Open Day programme included presentations on requirements for being a K-9 handler, trainings involved, success stories of FDDU, a walkthrough of the kennel and demonstration with K-9.

The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) would like to advise Fijians that the Service does not request payments through social media or messaging apps such as Viber and WhatsApp.

FRCS has received reports of  people impersonating Customs Officers and requesting customs clearance payments through social media or messaging apps.

We wish to clarify that FRCS payments are only made to cashiers at FRCS Offices, online or through FRCS bank accounts. Additionally, FRCS only uses its social media platforms for education and awareness or to enhance the Organisation’s visibility.

Fijians should report to FRCS on 3243000 or 1326 or info@frcs.org.fj if they receive requests for any payment, including payment of taxes, duties or levies through social media or messaging apps. They should also request for copies of relevant documentation or reference numbers from those requesting payments for verification with FRCS.

FRCS is concerned about scammers impersonating FRCS Officers and swindling money out of Fijians.  The penalty for the unlawful assumption of character of a FRCS Officer is a fine not exceeding $25,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both.

We wish to advise all Fijians to be vigilant and avoid becoming prey to such fraudulent activities.

The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) Officers have intercepted yet another consignment of goods countering attempts of customs duty fraud.

While reviewing the import documents, FRCS Officers found anomalies indicating undeclared goods and upon physical inspection, two cartons of cigarettes and several highly dutiable undeclared goods were discovered. Undeclared goods included new tyres, sofa, sports equipment, food items, printer, vehicle accessories, cosmetics and electrical goods, etc.  

FRCS CEO Mr. Mark Dixon stated that the Service promoted voluntary compliance and trusted the importers and customs agents to accurately report the type, value, and country of origin for the merchandise they bring into the country for which the right amount of duty must be paid.  

However, Mr. Dixon said FRCS will not condone customs fraud as this deprives the Fijian Government of revenue through customs duties and taxes that would otherwise be used to fund vital public services such as schools, hospitals and infrastructure.  

“Additionally, the fraudulent companies also gain a competitive advantage over honest traders by having lower importation costs for their products yet selling at the same prices,” he said.

Customs Agents and Brokers are also reminded to accurately declare all import items on the invoices as an incorrect declaration can be liable to penalties and imposition of further stringent measures.

Last year alone, FRCS either intercepted, detained or seized more than 1330 different goods at the border.

Mr. Dixon has encouraged importers to contact the FRCS team at 324300 or 1326 or email at info@frcs.org.fj for any assistance or clarification.

The 2022/2023 fiscal year started on a very positive note with the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) collecting a net revenue of $190.2m in August 2022. We have outperformed the forecast for the month by $12.9m or 7.3 percent and August 2021 collections by a considerable $105.8m or 125.3%.

FRCS CEO, Mr. Mark Dixon attributed the strong revenue performance to Fiji’s current conducive economic environment.

“A little over 12 months ago, Fiji was experiencing its third wave of COVID-19 infections that led to a massive drop in revenue collections. The comparatives against the tax performance for the same period last year looks very promising and perfectly shows how tax revenue has recovered much faster than earlier anticipated,” Mr. Dixon stated.

Consumption taxes such as Domestic VAT (+$43.6m), Import VAT (+$24.5m) and Fiscal Duty (+$10.6m) recorded an average increase of 132.3%. Furthermore, Company Tax (+$6.9m or 51%), Departure Tax (+$6.2m or 6890%), Withholding Tax (+$4.3m or 102%), Domestic Excise Duty (+$3.6m or 103%), PAYE Tax (+$3.3m or 34%) and Water Resource Tax (+$2.8m or 48%) all recorded collections higher than August 2021 collections.

Revenue collections are expected to remain strong in the future months.

Mr. Dixon also stated that the outstanding result is a testament to the hard work, innovative thinking and dedication of the FRCS Team.

“The results we’ve achieved in recent months demonstrate the strong momentum we have at FRCS. We are extremely proud of this result and grateful to everyone at FRCS for the role they played in achieving these results.

“I would also like to thank our taxpayers for filing their tax returns and paying their taxes. A large percentage of the tax revenue collected by the FRCS comes in voluntarily from taxpayers and we thank them for this,” Mr. Dixon said.

FRCS now has a new Executive Leadership Team (ELT) led by Mr. Dixon. The executive team comprises of the Chief of Staff Mr. Shavindra Nath, Chief Information Officer Ms. Emily Yalimaiwai, Director Intelligence, Compliance & Investigations Ms. Kelerayani Dawai, Director Border & Head of Customs Revenue Ms. Shelini Kumar, Director Taxation Ms. Momina Beg and Director People Capability and Culture Mr. Ben Chand.

“FRCS is progressing in its transformational change journey and businesses and taxpayers are already seeing the many positive benefits of the changes that we have made,” Mr. Dixon said.

He said the new leadership team will further drive the ongoing transformation at FRCS.

FRCS Executive Leadership Team– from the left are, Chief Information Officer Ms. Emily Yalimaiwai, Chief of Staff Mr. Shavindra Nath, Director Intelligence, Compliance & Investigations Ms Kelerayani Dawai, Chief Executive Officer Mr. Mark Dixon (middle), Director Border & Head of Customs Revenue Ms. Shelini Kumar, Director People Capability & Culture Mr. Ben Chand and Director Taxation Ms. Momina Beg.

The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) has launched the online filing of Corporate Income Tax (CIT) for tax years 2015 to 2021 on the Taxpayer Online Service (TPOS). CIT is one of the major tax processes of FRCS, which impacts over 35, 000 taxpayers.
For the 2021/2022 Financial Year, CIT had contributed 13.6% or $229.9 million towards the overall revenue collection of $1.692 billion. CIT is filed by companies, co-operatives, estates, trusts and partnerships.
The launch of the CIT online filing for tax years 2015 to 2021 is a significant milestone for FRCS and a demonstration of our commitment to modernise the tax administration, enhance taxpayer experiences and provide more efficient services to Fijians.
Close to 40 CIT returns were filed successfully on TPOS on the first day of the roll-out.
Our digital service aligns with the Fijian Government’s strategy on digital transformation. TPOS is a self-service platform that has transformed the Fijian tax administration with the aim to achieve voluntary compliance, self-assessment environments as well as enhanced the ease of doing business.
FRCS had planned to launch the Personal Income Tax (PIT) online filing for tax years 2015 to 2021 on TPOS simultaneously with CIT online filing for tax years 2015 to 2021. However, this implementation has been deferred to Tuesday 6th September 2022 due to technical complexities related to the migration of data from FRCS’s legacy system.
It is important that all data is migrated correctly to TPOS to avoid any adverse impact on the taxpayers after PIT online filing for tax years 2015 to 2021 is implemented. To facilitate the roll-out of PIT online filing for tax years 2015 to 2021 from next week Tuesday, there will be a system downtime from close of business Friday 2nd September to Monday 5th September 2022. During this time, TPOS will be unavailable.
TPOS went live in December 2019, enabling taxpayers 24/7 access to the FRCS services. Some of these services include Joint ID Card, statement of accounts, ability to update information and file, amend and object to tax returns. TPOS is one of the largest projects in Fiji and currently has more than 100 different services online.
To date, more than 63,000 taxpayers have signed up for TPOS. We encourage more taxpayers to sign up. To access the TPOS portal, taxpayers need to email us the completed one-time login code form available on https://www.frcs.org.fj/wpcontent/uploads/2019/06/FRCS002_Signup-Authentication-Forms-1.pdf and we will send them the code to sign-up.

The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) has collected net revenue of $1,692.6m for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, surpassing the forecast by $11.7m or 0.7%. The forecast has been achieved despite an upward revision in the 2021-2022 Revised Budget by $83m or 5.2%.
According to the FRCS CEO, Mr. Mark Dixon, compared to the 2020-2021 fiscal year, overall net collections have shown a remarkable growth by $279.6m or 19.8%.
“We ended the month of July on a very high note, recording a total collection of $186.6m which is above the forecast by $6.4m or 3.5%. The July 2022 collections have shown spectacular growth in comparison to July 2021 collections with an increase in revenue by $71.9m or 62.6%,” he said.
Mr. Dixon said that the 2021-2022 revenue collection started relatively slow with August 2021 recording one of the lowest collections of $84.4m since the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, he said that the revenue collection increased in the later months of 2021-2022 with various initiatives undertaken by the Fijian Government such as providing financial support to businesses, injecting cash into the economy through unemployment assistance schemes, re-opening the international borders and other budgetary support.
‘The monthly average net revenue collections in the first 6 months of the year was $130m which later increased to $150m in the second half of the year. The average monthly collection in the last quarter stood at $176.1m. The strong revenue collections in the recent months can be attributed to the recovery of our businesses, the rebound of the tourism sector and increased confidence shown by our consumers. Consumption taxes such as Domestic VAT, Import VAT, Fiscal Duty, Domestic Excise have all been contributing to the positive revenue outcome,” Mr. Dixon said.
Despite the period of recovery and slow revenue collection in the earlier months of the fiscal year, FRCS continued to release refunds promptly to assist businesses with their cash flows. $192.8m has been released in VAT refunds for the fiscal year, exceeding the forecast by $2.3m.