Only nine percent of Bermuda?s 6,500 registered taxpaying companies have filed and paid their payroll tax online since the Ministry of Finance introduced its e-tax initiative two years ago.

Yesterday, Minister of Finance Paula Cox said that her Ministry would now be launching an advertising campaign to encourage the rest of the Island?s taxpayers to take advantage of the system.

Since its inception in June 2002, only 496 of the Island?s 6,500 registered taxpayers had used the system to file taxes. Of those, 376 represent local business and 120 were from the international business sector. For the quarter ended June 30, 2004, $16 million dollars was collected online representing 27 percent of payroll tax received for the quarter. Government collects a total of $220 million a year from land tax.

Minister Cox attributed the low usage to a variety of reasons, including a resistance to use computers and an unfamiliarity with the initiative.

?We haven?t had a targeted campaign. We have been in the business of getting ourselves prepared. Now we are about to launch,? she said. ?Ideally we are intending to have 100 percent usage. Eventually e-filing will be the primary method of paying taxes.?

Her Ministry is planning to bring the initiative to the public with an advertising campaign in the period leading up to the October 15 filing date for payroll tax.

?You will see that with the publicity and also with it being made quite clear the advantages we expect that we should see a steady and steep rise,? Minister Cox said. ?Government is keenly aware of the need to enhance efficiency and administrative convenience to its end users ? individuals, locals and international businesses and others ? in the rollout of its services. This is particularity true with respect to the payment of taxes. There is a general principal that say ?the easier it is to pay a tax,the more likely it is that the tax will be paid?.?

Minister Cox said that the initiative has resulted in increasing efficiencies in the office of the Tax Commissioner particularly with respect to reduced paper handling and improved customer service.

When asked whether the efficiencies might lead to fewer jobs in Government she said: ?The issue is not so much you are looking at staff reductions but you are looking at improved operational efficiencies. If you are asking me to predict that when people retire if there is still a need to fill a job which has been made more streamlined and efficient then I will say maybe there may not be that need to hire at that same rate but at the same time the impetus and driver is to be more administratively efficient, to be user friendly and also to get in the tax dollars that need to be gotten in.?

The next phase of government?s e-tax system is currently under development and will include the online payment of land tax. It is scheduled to be rolled out to all land taxpayers before the end of the year. There are 29,000 units subject to land tax and Government typically collects $40 million per year in land tax. Minister Cox said that once again the initiative would increase operating efficiencies. Taxpayers will also have the option of paying land tax via their ATM

?While both methods of payment have merit, paying land tax via our e-tax system will certainly be a more convenient method for taxpayers with multiple assessment numbers,? Minister Cox said.