THE Inland Revenue Department (IRD) now requires that both seller and buyer involved in the transfer of motor vehicles visit the same tax office where the transfer was initiated for it to be completed.

According to the IRD, this new measure – which became effective last Monday – has been implemented to protect the owners of motor vehicles and to strengthen the integrity of the motor vehicle registry system.

This new requirement is particularly important where both parties do not visit the tax office at the same time, an IRD press release yesterday said.

“In such a case, once the seller initiates the transfer at a tax office by signing the relevant section of the motor vehicle title, the taxpayer service agent will verify the information and signature,” the release explained.

“A notice will then be attached to the title and returned to the seller, advising that the buyer must return to the same tax office to complete the transaction”.

Last month, Finance Minister Audley Shaw charged that some employees of the IRD, in collusion with members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, were compromising the revenue collection system.

Shaw accused the errant tax workers of atrocities such as removing liens from motor vehicle titles and illegally registering vehicles.

“I am making an urgent plea to all of the staff in all departments within the revenue administration in this country, clean up your act,” Shaw said at the April opening of the Large Taxpayer Office at the Constant Spring Road tax collectorate in Kingston.

“We have sent the signal already. Arrests are being made, arrests are about to be made,” he declared.