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August 16, 2008
BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE HOSTS TAX ADMINISTRATORS ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE The Bureau of Internal Revenue recently hosted an association of tax administrators from the territories of the United States along with representatives of the Internal Revenue Service and Department of the Interior. The annual meeting of the All Islands Tax Administrators Association (AITAA) was held on St. Thomas. According to BIR Director Gizette Thomas, the goal of the conference was to bring the territories together to discuss tax issues and provide an outlet for collective coordination of these issues. The AITAA is hosted by a different U.S. territory each year, the last time the Virgin Islands hosted the conference was in 2001. At the meeting, each territory reported on its current operations and the status of paying the Economic Stimulus Rebate payments. The Internal Revenue Service also reported on new access to federal information that the territories may sign up to receive. "We discussed disclosure rules and safeguard reviews that will be conducted in various territories by the Internal Revenue Service. The participants also discussed getting federal agencies to make direct payment to the territories for employees located in the various territories," Thomas said, adding that training opportunities and limitations were also discussed. This year, the Bureau of Internal Revenue added an educational component to the tax conference. Director Thomas invited the chief financial officers and payroll specialists from the semi-autonomous and autonomous instrumentalities of the Virgin Islands, to a workshop highlighting the goals and objectives of the Federal State and Local Government Section of the Internal Revenue Service. "This branch is charged with the review and examination of employment taxes of government entities, including federal, state and local agencies. This educational component was well received by the participants," Thomas noted. She said fourteen representatives from V.I. Government agencies participated in the workshop. Mary Baltimore, the analyst for the Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa, represented the Department of Interior, which provides the travel and housing costs for the participants to attend the conference. "Ms. Baltimore updated the association on the status of their joint efforts to seek modification of the law as it relates to the Treasury Offset program. One of the decisions made by the organization was to have each territory’s governor send a letter to their Congressional representative seeking an amendment to allow the territories to participate in the offset program, even if the taxpayer no longer resides in the territory. DOI has drafted its own legislation to assist in moving this issue forward and has promised to keep AITAA updated on this issue," Thomas said. Baltimore also provided the updated requirements and procedures for seeking grant awards from the DOI, specifically as it relates to improving the tax processes of each insular territory. The participants at the conference included Tax Director Mel Joseph of American Samoa; Art Ilagan and Joseph Rios of Guam; Itibo Tofina and Edison Isaiah of the Marshall Islands; Dee Robinson, David Varley, Kyle Roberts, Michael Smith, Sunita Lough and Terry Rodriquez of the Internal Revenue Service and Mary Baltimore of the Department of the Interior. Director Thomas, Deputy Director Averyl Fabian and Tamarah Parson-Smalls, Marcella Somersall, Jose Mc Gregor, Yvonne Nesbitt, Granville Smith, Alonzo Brady and Lionel Parsons represented the V.I. Bureau of Internal Revenue. |
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