The House Ways and Means committee is recommending the passage of a bill to decrease the time given to businesses to pay their excise taxes by half.<\/p>\n
House Bill 19-138, authored by Rep. John Paul Sablan (R-Saipan), amends current law to change the grace period of payment for excise tax from 30 days to 15 days.<\/p>\n
In concurring with the bill\u2019s intent, the committee cited written comments from the CNMI Division of Customs, which believes that the proposed 15-day period \u201cis ample time\u201d for a business or importer to prepare payment for their import taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 30-day excise tax grace period is too long as it delays revenue collections and usually results in outstanding accounts,\u201d wrote Customs director Jose Mafnas in a letter to the committee.<\/p>\n
The Saipan Chamber of Commerce, however, in another comment letter, said that 30 days was reasonable time period for payments owed, and said they strongly opposed the bill.<\/p>\n
The Chamber said they represent more than 160 business, non-profit organizations, and government entities and that most businesses routinely pay their obligations on a monthly basis\u2014noting that a decrease in the grace period from a month to 15 days would put \u201can onerous responsibility on business in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
They said the reduced time period would leave insufficient time for correction and noted that once a tax has been paid by a business, it is cumbersome to follow up on a refund for small amounts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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