In other news, small business owners and entrepreneurs turned out today to take advantage of the Tax Amnesty program that was launched earlier this week by the Belize Tax Service. They have included the program as a service under their MSME road show, and some of those who went in to apply today got their certificates of approval. Jomarie Lanza has this story.
Artisans, musicians and business owners flocked to the Belize City Civic Center this morning to take advantage of the services being offered at the MSME Road show, principally the MSME Amnesty Program. Their director spoke with us at the event about today's turnout
Michelle Longsworth, Director General, Belize Tax Service
"So as you can see all the different stations are occupied at presently so the process is that people have to go to SBDC first to register and get a number and then they verify if they already have their business certificate they skip that process and then they go to Tax so far this morning since just after 8 we have registered 15 new tax payers and we have had I think about just under 10 persons come in to verify if they are eligible meaning if their registration date was from March 2023 to present so you can see from the background we are quite busy there assisting others but there is an entire process to go through. I believe we have completed our first approval for the amnesty program and that company has qualified and so they are now waiting to get their amnesty certificate era that will be uploaded in our system so it is going pretty good right now everyone is just trying to settle in but as you look around you can see that people keep flowing in and I think it is going to be very fruitful for us today."
One of the first to receive their certificate of approval was Belize Caribbean Tours who have been in operation since 2022 as a Tour operator at the Fort Street Tourism Village. Their director told us how this program will assist them in expanding their business
Tanesia Leslie, Director, Belize Caribbean Tours
"I believe it was a great opportunity for our company Belize Caribbean Tours and what the tax is doing along with Beltraide in partnering to get a lot of businesses formulated with business tax because a lot of us did not know the processes and procedures to go through in order to do this."
"It makes you get a better understanding of what is going on and as well the exemption helps a lot within when you have to pay back taxes it helps a lot so it helps ease the expenses for that entire year that we have been exempted for."
Longsworth says that often many businesses are reluctant to formalize their operations because they are not informed about how taxes work, but she says that once they come out and see for themselves how beneficial and headache-saving it can really be, she hopes other small business owners will change their mind and feel the need to get formalized as well.
Michelle Longsworth, Director General, Belize Tax Service
"It is important that small businesses come in and make use of this opportunity. It is an opportunity for your business to grow. It is an opportunity for your business to be able to apply for other initiatives that the government may offer once you formalize. Because many times your business cannot grow because you don't formalize and it is a real good initiative for businesses, small businesses specifically to start to expand because many time, businesses remain small and we don't want them to remain small we want them to move up, move to medium and move to large but your business has to grow so formalize and make use of initiative and I think that is very good right now."
The MSME road show travels to the Corozal Civic Center tomorrow.
