Technical mission focuses on two key areas

Fiji and Australia share a strong and enduring bilateral relationship underpinned by the Fiji Australia Vuvale partnership.

The strength of this relationship was evident during a recent visit from the Australian Taxation office (ATO) to Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS).

ATO director of international relations, capacity building and transparency Gabbrielle Jackson and assistant director Isabelle Hu with the director entry level program Celeste Breen and economist on performance and tax gap analysis Allan Partington were present at FRCS from May 8 to 19 to deliver the first tax technical assistance mission.

The mission focused on two key areas, namely the FRCS people capability culture team’s development of the University Paid Internship Program (UPIP), and the Risk Assessment & Financial Intelligence and Policy Team’s Value Added Tax (VAT) Gap Analysis.

The UPIP provides an early engagement point to recruit and retain high-quality tertiary students undertaking bachelor’s degree studies or above, looking for paid work experience aligned to their current studies.

Ms Jackson and Ms Hu are also working closely with FRCS to setup a world-class Taxpayer Education Team to ensure FRCS is well equipped to deliver high standards of tax awareness to the community.

This is expected to help build trust and confidence in the FRCS and the tax system, and allow FRCS to tailor engagement with taxpayers based on the taxpayer’s needs.

FRCS is also collaborating very closely with the ATO in developing and implementing the Dispute Resolution Framework.

FRCS chief executive officer Mark Dixon expressed his appreciation for the ongoing technical assistance from the ATO, emphasizing the that FRCS will continue its engagement and collaboration to ensure continued learning from ATO to deliver world-class services to the public of Fiji.