PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) — Haiti has denied reports that it intends to impose a tax on nationals returning to the country.

Minister of Haitians Living Abroad (MHAVE), Stéphanie Auguste, told reporters there was no truth to the reports circulating in the diaspora that all Haitians abroad would be required to pay US$86 and a flat-rate income tax of 10,000 gourdes (One Haitian Gourde=US$0.01 cents).

She dismissed suggestions that the new fiscal measures were included in the draft budget for 2017-2018.

Auguste, speaking in the presence of Economy and Finance Minister, Jude Alix Patrick, said “there is no question of paying $186 on arrival in Haiti, neither to the consulates nor to the embassies of Haiti for the request of a public service.

“The question of the income tax does not refer particularly to the diaspora, it concerns all Haitian or any national of other countries undertaking transactions in Haiti that involve income, importing goods, selling land, buying / selling a vehicle, or claiming the issuance of a passport…” The authorities said that citizens whose annual income is less than 60,000 gourdes are not subjected to the payment of the tax.

However they said it is necessary to present the certificate of filing of final declaration to conclude certain transactions.

They warned that any citizen not in a position to present it, at the time of a transaction or a public service which requires this document, will have to pay the lump sum of 10,000 gourdes, as provided for in the draft budget for 2017-2018.

“It would therefore be in the interest of citizens to make their final tax return annually at the prescribed time, advises the minister, a practice designed to encourage tax compliance,” the government said.