WILLEMSTAD – Government auditors have identified serious weaknesses in Curaçao's handling of advance payments on tax refunds, including inadequate documentation, insufficient internal controls, and approximately XCG 32,000 in outstanding advances that had not yet been recovered at the time of the investigation.
The findings are contained in an SOAB internal audit submitted to the Curaçao Parliament by Finance Minister Charles Cooper on October 23.
The investigation examined how the Office of the Tax Collector issued, registered, recovered, and reconciled advance payments to taxpayers before their final tax refunds were established.
According to SOAB, an earlier investigation in 2024 found that the department lacked a proper legal basis, established procedures, and adequate internal guidelines for issuing such advances.
The auditors subsequently assessed whether improvements had been implemented and whether previously issued advances had been properly recovered.
The report shows that 81 outstanding transactions, representing approximately XCG 121,908, were registered as of January 1, 2024.
By October 2025, the number of outstanding transactions had declined to 30, representing approximately XCG 34,865.
However, SOAB found that the administrative handling of several transactions remained problematic.
In a review of 35 transactions totaling XCG 26,610.21, auditors were unable to verify whether the recorded settlements and corrections had been properly executed.
The investigation revealed that some transactions involved incorrect bookkeeping entries or unidentified receipts and payments.
In several instances, the same employee had handled both the advance-payment records and subsequent adjustments in the tax administration system without independent verification.
SOAB warned that this arrangement undermined the separation of duties, weakened the audit trail, and made it difficult to determine whether transactions had been properly authorized and processed.
The report also identified 16 transactions totaling XCG 60,433 that had been correctly settled against tax refunds under the revised procedures.
For another 30 transactions totaling approximately XCG 34,865, the auditors reported that no opportunity for settlement against tax refunds had arisen by the end of October 2025.
Of these, 22 involved relatively small differences of less than XCG 500 per transaction, totaling XCG 2,867, which were expected to be written off.
Despite the improvements, SOAB found that approximately XCG 31,998 in outstanding advances still required collection.
The Accounting Department was monitoring those amounts and pursuing recovery either through direct collection or by offsetting them against future tax refunds.
The auditors acknowledged that revised procedures had strengthened the administration of advances, but warned that weaknesses in the system and inconsistent application of internal controls continued to create risks.
The findings highlight the importance of accurate recordkeeping and independent verification in the management of public funds, particularly where advance payments are issued before a taxpayer's final entitlement has been determined.