DILI, 12 august 2022 (TATOLI)- The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) collected US$ 2.3 million from the payment of state lease in 2022.
Minister of Justice, Tiago Amaral Sarmento said, since becoming Minister of Justice on March 20, 2022, his ministry has implemented legal framing to force national companies and international companies that use state land and house properties to have a monthly payment to the state.
“In the last five months, we have raised US$2.3 million from state lease payments. So far, many international companies and national companies have used state-owned goods without paying taxes, therefore the policy taken by the Ministry of Justice was to force them to pay the taxes according to the dimension of their houses and property” Sarmento told TATOLI at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office, Pantai Kelapa, Dili, Friday.
According to Sarmento, tax payments by companies contribute to the country’s national development, but until now, the Ministry of Justice does not has the exact amount of state rent used by companies.
“We don’t know how much state rent is in the entire national territory of Timor-Leste, but currently the team from the Ministry of Justice is conducting data verification, for those who have registered they pay taxes every month, we hope that the rest who are not on the list will have the awareness to pay for the tax,”
Sarmento said, in tax payments and data verification, the MoJ has collaborated with several state institutions such as Serviço Verifição Emprezarial (SERVE), Immigration, and the Commission of Anti Corruption (CAC) Timor-Leste National Police, (PNTL) and other relevant agencies to investigate the number of state lease being used and the number of the company have paid for the taxes.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor : Nelia B.
