But, BTL rejected that narrative today - the phone company says it doesn't owe any taxes. In a hurriedly put together press conference this afternoon, the Chairman said they have tried to engage the unions to show and prove definitively that the companies does not owe any taxes:
Mark Lizzaraga, Chairman, BTL
"It is the position of BTL that it does not owe any taxes in arrears. When we heard the recent narrative in the media, and on social media, we reached out to the Unions, to share our position and to see if we could understand their position on the matter. It is most unfortunate that all our attempts to communicate with, and our outreach to, the teachers union, remains unanswered. We also wrote to the Tax department requesting clarity on the matter because BTL's records, and BTL's Audited financials, do not indicate any outstanding tax arrears for the company. The last mention of tax arrears on this matter is in our Financial Statements for Fiscal Year ended March 31, 2011 which stated that there was a tax assessment reversal for previous years and I quote, "During 2011, the Group was advised by the Government of Belize that these taxes would be collected from the consideration payable for the shares acquired by the Government of Belize."
"Subsequent to our inquiry of the tax department, which again was only triggered by the tax arrears rumors, we received a letter yesterday dated April 15, 2021 that there were outstanding arrears for the periods 2002 - March 2010. Prior to this reply which we prompted from the tax department, BTL had not received, nor can it find any communications in its records, after June 2010 from the Tax Department concerning these arrears. After the acquisition of BTL in 2009, the then Board of Directors were provided information by management that the previous owners, the Ashcroft group, were not paying business tax on international settlements i.e. revenue that is due from foreign telephone operators. The company then called in the Income Tax Department to look into the matter. The Income Tax Dept audit commenced in early 2010 for the period commencing April 2002 after BTL providing the requisite information."
Those taxes owing by the previous owners - the Ashcroft Alliance were settled when the Barrow administration wrote to BTL saying that it would be recovered by the Government of Belize and quote, "factored in to the value of the shares acquired for which compensation is payable by the Government of Belize. In this manner the Government will recover the value of the taxes assessed."
After that, BTL says the matter of any taxes outstanding was settled with finality.
