WILLEMSTAD - The Curaçao Tax Office is currently facing significant delays in processing income tax returns. To address this issue, Finance Minister Javier Silvania has instructed the Tax Inspectorate to prioritize clearing this backlog, aiming to ensure that taxpayers receive their refunds before Christmas.
Recent data reveals that only 39% of the tax returns for 2023 and 52% for 2022 have been processed automatically. This leaves nearly 17,000 returns still pending in the backlog. The goal is to have at least 70% of these returns processed automatically by the end of November.
To meet these targets, all staff involved in the assessment process are temporarily prohibited from taking leave. Weekly reports on the progress of both automatic and manual processing will be required to monitor the situation closely.