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Matthew Vella
A total of 373 medical practitioners and consultants were called in by the Tax Compliance Unit to discuss their tax situation as of October 2004, MaltaToday has learned. The number represents well over half the number of doctors affiliated with the Medical Association of Malta (MAM), which groups over 85 per cent of the medical cohort with 629 members.
Answering a parliamentary question by Labour MP Joseph Cassar, Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Gonzi revealed the TCU had interviewed three categories of self-employed workers, namely medical consultants and general practitioners, and auto repairers. A total of 584 auto repairers were called in to discuss their tax situation, the majority of whom, 385, refused to discuss their tax declarations with the TCU.
The statistics confirm the extent to which certain professions and skilled trades have come under scrutiny by the TCU, with doctors and the car repair sectors enjoying notoriety for tax evasion. Of 373 doctors called in to discuss their tax situation, 268 of which are medical consultants, 167 refused to start discussions, amongst them members of the MAM council.
Discussions on tax situations are based on individual income tax declarations, but agreements are reached strictly on a voluntary basis. Agreements were reached with 90 auto repairers and 56 doctors. If however there is evidence the taxpayers concerned could have under-declared income in the past, they will be liable to be investigated further in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Acts.
Dr Martin Balzan, the secretary-general of the MAM, is one of those doctors who refused to discuss their tax situation when invited by the TCU. A doctor at the state hospital, Balzan said he did not accept the invitation because he had declared all his income and believes there is nothing to discuss: “The fact that 167 doctors refused to discuss their tax situation does not mean they did not declare their tax. Public hospital doctors have little or no time to do private work. Some of them refuse because they say the TCU will call on them to discuss their tax declarations. I declared all my income and there was no reason for me to go.”
Balzan said the fact that over half of the medical cohort had been asked to discuss the tax situation is no justification of a perception of tax evasion amongst the medical profession:
“The fact is that there are individual variations of tax evasion and you cannot generalise. There are doctors who are earning minimal amounts and others who have very successful private practices.
“They have singled out the profession unfairly, and doctors are worried. The TCU is applying different criteria with respect to the thousands of self-employed, rendering the exercise unproductive. I think it should be monitoring the expenditure of self-employed, rather than singling out doctors. In the last years the TCU has effectively targeted doctors and panel beaters. These measures are reminiscent of repressive times.”
Last July, the TCU was shown to have been targeting specialist doctors in an exercise that would have led to individual three-year tax agreements, after a similar exercise with general practitioners had been concluded.
Parliamentary Secretary in the Finance Ministry Tonio Fenech had said around 160 GPs had reached an agreement with TCU for the next three years and the unit is holding discussions with specialists.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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