WILLEMSTAD - Today, a significant development has emerged in the realm of taxation as a summary judgment has determined that tax assessments linked to the years 2017 and preceding years will no longer be subject to collection. This decisive ruling sheds light on the unresolved tax obligations classified as 'exceptional cases' and disclosed on April 3, 2023. Earlier this year, the Receiver's Office embarked on a mission to rectify the compilation of collection data. The accumulation of this data had swelled to a staggering sum of 5.7 million guilders, rendering the system practically unmanageable. As a result, a profound intervention became imperative to amplify the efficiency of tax and premium collection efforts.
Over the span of several years, a policy of selective collection was implemented, coupled with preemptive measures aimed at expediting tax compliance. This strategy inadvertently led to the predicament earlier described. The incumbent Minister of Finance, Javier Silvania, uprooted this 'friends & family' ethos upon assuming office and has since exerted considerable endeavor to augment tax compliance. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which conducted an array of international assessments on tax collection efficiency, arrived at the conclusion in 2019 that the probability of recouping overdue taxes significantly diminishes over time. This assertion equally applies to Curaçao, where, after a two-year period, the likelihood of collecting past-due payments diminishes by nearly 50%. Consequently, arrears linked to 2017 and prior years should have been addressed much earlier, rather than postponing the resolution until 2022 or 2023. To streamline collection efforts and align with the findings of the OECD, primary focus shifted towards addressing new outstanding amounts that exhibited higher prospects of successful collection. As a consequence, the Receiver's Office ceased efforts to recover arrears related to tax years preceding 2017. While this proactive step might appear stringent, it demonstrates that tax revenue reported for this fiscal year surpasses even the notable peak observed in 2022.
Since assuming office, the present government has undertaken substantial strides within the Tax Service realm, striving to rectify both the data integrity within the Tax Inspection and the Receiver's Office. This year, an array of planned actions aims to eradicate administrative bottlenecks, concurrently bolstering the quality of services rendered by the Tax Service through automation and comprehensive data analysis. In the forthcoming months, pivotal modifications in the efficacy of tax and premium collection are on the horizon. The consequences of the Tax Service's historical 'negligence' naturally necessitated an exertion of effort to rectify the resultant damage.