Porgera businesses get tax education

One-hundred-and-twenty Small Medium Enterprise (SME) businesses in Porgera and local contractors with the Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) are now more aware of their tax obligations.

This follows a five-day tax awareness workshop facilitated by the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) – Highlands Regional Tax Centre.

The workshop, held at Suyan in Porgera, from 23-27 September, was through an initiative of the Porgera Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) in partnership with the Economic Programs unit of PJV’s Community Development section.

Manager IRC Tax Centre for Mt Hagen, Mark Kolow, highlighted that Porgera businesses have very low compliance levels when it comes to tax obligations.

“We are here to tell you about your tax obligations as registered companies. When you get your statement of account, you will see that compliance level is very low, meaning you probably don’t know what you are doing or you are not properly advised about the requirements and implications of the IRC tax policy,” Kolowa said.

Kolowa, together with the Manager IRC Tax Centre in Wabag, Reke Nita, delivered the 5-day workshop covering fundamental areas such as; mandatory taxation obligations of the Internal Revenue Commission taxation regime and recent government legislation change and its impact on local SMEs.

The sessions also delivered information on processes, systems and requirements of IRC which included and were not limited to; relevant IRC forms information entry with practical examples, income tax application (employees), company tax application (employer), penalties of non-compliance by SMEs and completion of applicable tax forms.

In all, the workshop focused on ensuring that local SMEs understood the processes, systems and requirements and implications of the IRC taxation policy and to guide local contractors in completing all relevant tax compliance forms through a practical sample illustration.

PJV Superintendent Business Development, Daniel Sosi, said the workshop was considered relevant to ensure that PJV contractors are compliant with relevant taxation obligations as part of PJV’s duty to care to contractors and to build business capacity in the district.

PJV also supported the training to ensure that local SMEs, who are members of the PCCI and those that are not contractors to PJV, are also compliant to access the recently launched smart business grant.

Kolowa said a lot of questions were raised by the participants, indicating a lack of awareness on tax obligations.

The IRC team also expressed concern that over 90 percent of local businesses that attended were non-tax compliant and re-emphasised the need for businesses to comply fully with the IRC tax policy requirements or cautioned that they will be penalised by the tax office.

Local contractor, Robert Alembo, said they had not been aware of a lot of the areas covered in the workshop and it was a real learning experience and a real need for local businesses to be fully informed of their tax obligations.

“The workshop was a real eye opener. Many of us are not knowledgeable of these tax requirements and most of us have been getting the wrong advice from middle persons and have been paying a lot to have our taxes sorted as registered businesses, only it had not been done right and not in compliance,” Alembo stated.

PJV Community Development Manager, Jacqueline Nen, said the workshop had provided essential feedback on the capacity levels of local business in terms of tax compliance and it was something PJV will continue to support in partnership with local institutions like the PCCI.

(Kolowa, right, assesses a tax document in the presence of Sosi, second from right, and Alembo, left, with another participant)

Author: 
Press release