First release of Multi Tax Solution planned in Q3 2022
The Inland Revenue Department of St. Kitts and Nevis is taking major steps in the modernization of its organization. BearingPoint Caribbean has been selected to implement the Multi Tax Solution as the new software for the tax administration. It will transform the IRD from a paper-based organization into one with a modern IT system for fully automated online processes. The new tax system will offer online portals for taxpayer services to residents and businesses for registration, filing and payment of tax returns, or the arrangement of other affairs.
BearingPoint Caribbean is proud to have been selected by the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis for the transformation. It marks the 14th tax administration worldwide to be using BearingPoint’s innovative software and the second Eastern-Caribbean nation to select the Multi Tax Solution (MTS) for the digital transformation of their tax administration. The first release of the MTS of Anguilla’s IRD went live in mid-2021 with online portals. In February 2022 Anguilla achieved another milestone with the introduction of the online payment module. Both milestones were a first for the IRD. The Eastern-Caribbean Island nations have an Anglo-Saxon system of law and jurisdiction. The MTS is a Commercially-of-the-Shelf (COTS) solution that supports multiple tax jurisdictions and can be adapted to different tax rules and regulations.
No more waiting in line
The new tax system and its portals are a major step forward for the organization as well as taxpayers. The taxpayer portals offer 24/7 self-service options to residents and businesses which eliminate queues at the IRD. It also provides access to information and assistance that help reduce inquiries to the organization. The MTS supports all of the tax administration’s functions, ranging from registration, taxpayer accounting, tax return, assessments and payment processing, to enforced collection, objections & appeals, audit and risk management. It allows for the registration of a complete and accurate taxpayer base. In addition, by managing this information management, the MTS enables the IRD to target areas where non-compliance poses a risk to inland revenue.
Edward Gift, Comptroller Inland Revenue Department, St. Kitts and Nevis
Expanded digital opportunities
The tax software offers future e-government services across other government organizations of St. Kitts and Nevis, as is the case in Anguilla where Social Security, Customs and the police are also connected to the portal. They can make use of the payment module of the MTS for the central registration of their revenue. Edward Gift, Comptroller of the IRD: “We see our new tax administration software as an avenue to reshape our organization to respond to increasing expectations of our citizens, stakeholders, and global forces. We expect the new system to offer expanded digital opportunities for our customers and other stakeholders to interact with us, improved process automation to make doing business easier and advanced data analytics to improve our decision making.”
Locally developed software for export
Modernization of tax administration systems requires a deeper understanding of their business processes and workflows for it to be done efficiently and cost-effectively. BearingPoint Caribbean has over 35 years of knowledge in digitalizing government services, specifically in the tax and social security domain.
As a large software development organization based in Curaçao, BearingPoint Caribbean contributes greatly to the country’s GDP with the export of its locally developed software and its 100+ employees. The demand for the modernization of legacy IT systems is expected to keep growing, seeing the continued increase of internationalization, particularly in smaller countries across the globe, which is BearingPoint’s primary focus.
First release in Q3-2022
The first component of the MTS in St. Kitts and Nevis will be launched in Q3-2022, starting with the registration module. Other modules will follow shortly for VAT, Property Tax and Stamp Duty. The full implementation is expected to take up to two years.