An answer to a PQ tabled yesterday has revealed that the Tax Compliance Unit has entered into three-year agreements with three categories: doctors, hairdressers and mechanics.
The details were tabled in answer to a PQ by Labour MP Leo Brincat.
The exact details of the agreement are unknown but the deal focuses on a specific income threshold for each of the categories.
The workings of the secretive TCU, which falls under the Ministry of Finance, has finally come under scrutiny in parliamentary question time. In the first nine months of 2007, eight large companies were investigated by the TCU, in contrast with 18 small and medium sized companies and six self-employed individuals which were also investigated.
Though the figures only refer to the first nine months, the trend in TCU investigations repeats itself over the last three years, with limited focus on big companies: six in 2005, 10 in 2006. There were 48 and 40 SMEs investigated in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Individuals selected for TCU investigation were 18 in 2005 and 25 for 2006.
The TCU’s rigorous techniques have come under heavy criticism by the GRTU. More interestingly, the criteria used to select companies or individuals for scrutiny remains unclear, and the TCU says that as is the practice abroad, the criteria used to select companies or individuals for investigation will not be divulged.