MOF to use ITAS to implement taxation in Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY: It seems that Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) will be the password that opens the file of taxes in Kuwait wide open again.

The move made by the Ministry of Finance to introduce the practice of supplying ITAS through the Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) was met with parliamentary reactions of rejection by claiming, “taxes will not pass except on the dead body of the parliament”, reports Al-Rai daily.

This raises the slogan of defiance in front of the government’s tendency to impose taxes on individuals, as MPs cast responsibility on the government particularly the Minister of Finance for the repercussions of the practice if it is not canceled or withdrawn permanently.

The documents presented by the Ministry of Finance revealed that the system targets current tax laws and “any laws that may be new in the future” which the informed sources consider as an indication of the government’s approach to impose new taxes.

The sources explained, “The project is not new. It was previously presented in the earlier annual plans of the Ministry of Finance, and aims to develop the tax administration in accordance with international systems, in order to cover the current tax laws and any laws introduced in the future. This makes the government ready and willing to apply any type of taxes if approved”.

The Ministry of Finance stated that the new targeted system covers the following tax laws:

1 – Kuwait Income Tax Decree No. 3/1955, as amended by law No. 2/2008
2 – Kuwait Income Tax Law in the Designated Region No. 23/1961
3 – Law No. 19/2000 in the matter of supporting and encouraging national workers to work in non-governmental entities
4 – Law No. 46/2006 regarding zakat and the contribution of public and closed joint-stock companies to the state budget
5 – Any new laws in the future.

The proposal presented in this regard identified 16 expected benefits, the most important of which are the provision of an integrated central system for tax administration; a mechanism for registering taxpayers and issuing a unified tax number for registrants electronically, checking declarations, a mechanism for collection through multiple payment methods, urging taxpayers to pay dues as soon as possible, tools for detecting tax fraud and reporting suspicious tax returns to avoid lost government revenue, assessing risks in the claims collection process, helping to count unregistered taxpayers, and providing a high degree of electronic work, and avoiding manual intervention.