Dear Editor,
It is tax time in our islands and taxpayers are expected to comply and do so on time. Part of the process is gathering all necessary documents and information from various entities such as employer, banks, insurance companies, etc.
One of the requirements for persons that have mortgages and other loans from banks is an interest letter. It is a headache for some clients to get their interest letters from some banks. Sometimes I, as tax advisor, have to take over from the customer and call or send e-mails to the bank imploring them to send these interest letters; sometimes it takes weeks or months to get them in hand; this for something that is recurring annually. Why should it be such a hassle when the banks are well aware of the requirements of the law? I assume bankers are taxpayers too.
The law also requires that taxpayers report the balance of these loans. The tax law of the former Netherlands Antilles already required this and so I believe the same goes for Country St. Maarten.
However, most banks do not automatically include this information on the interest letters they provide their clients. This means oftentimes more phone calls and emails have to be made resulting in more lost time and expense.
Why can’t these banks prepare and send out these interest letters, including balances, to their clients as a matter of fact rather than waiting for each client to call or write to request this?
In Statia we can now file our taxes online and without the loan balance(s) information the process cannot be completed.
I am therefore appealing to all those banks that do not yet do so to provide interest letters automatically at the beginning of each year and include loan balances as required by law.
This will save your customers and tax advisors like myself a lot of time and trouble and save you bankers many harassing phone calls and emails.
Glenn Schmidt
St. Eustatius
