Basil: IRC to audit big companies

By HELEN TARAWA
The Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) will become part of auditors without borders that will enable it to audit companies exporting raw resources, Treasurer Sam Basil says.
This was made possible through signing up with Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
“I’ve signed my OECD letter to announce that IRC will audit those big companies that are landing in whichever port or countries,” Basil said.
“They will see if they can collect the figures so we can see if the reporting is true and honest and we can get the true value of our resources.
“I thank Mining Minister Johnson Tuke to have also signed the participating letter committing the mining industry.
“This is a welcome news because most of our resources from PNG are raw resources.
“We export timber and logs and many other minerals so this exercise will help us to stock-take these big companies to hold them responsible and honest.”
Basil said another initiative was to enter into a memorandum of understanding with stakeholders to use them to provide information for IRC in terms of businesses in main towns and districts.
He said they would work with provincial governments to increase the tax base, conduct taxpayer awareness and use intelligence from provinces to increase tax base and enhance revenue collections.
“We want to go one step further to enter into MoUs with professional boards and groups to give information so that they are up to date with their lodgments and comply with tax obligations,” he said.
“We plan for this now and the end of the year but we plan for some of these activities to be carried throughout the course of this year and onwards.”