administration more complex for employers, according to Chamber of Commerce President Cris Dapena, writes Henry Adderley .

Ms Dapena, who was one of the first people to comment on the changes to the payroll tax which were announced in last Friday's Budget, noted at that time that "it will be some days off before our employer members have done their analyses to see how they are affected''.

Yesterday she reported that she had heard back from a number of members.

Ms Dapena said: "The impact has been negligible for all of them. There has certainly not been widespread benefit.

"The very smallest business, those with payrolls under $100,000, would have had no impact.

"Mid-size businesses -- those who have payrolls which fall between $100,000 and $200,000 -- have had, per business, a small positive impact. The large businesses who have reported have said the impact is negligible,'' she added noting that she had not heard from the international business sector to date.

What I have heard so far is that those of the larger businesses who have received any benefit at all have received only a very small one, perhaps two, three, $4,000 a year,'' she continued.

"That's from those who have given any feedback.'' But Ms Dapena noted that she was receiving another message from the business community regarding the new complexities in calculating payroll tax.

Tax changes complex impact is so small that the additional complexity as far as businesses are concerned outweighs the benefit. "The gain is negligible and the administration complexity has been increased.'' An example of the new complexity affected employers in businesses with payrolls over the $200,000 mark, said Ms Dapena. They are entitled to a new credit of $2,400 -- $600 per quarter -- per employee. But they can only claim that for employees who had worked more than 30 hours a week during each quarterly period. This meant increased calculations -- particularly when employees worked on a flexible basis. They now have to review which employees are eligible for the deduction.

But a Government spokesman explained that the new amendments to Payroll Tax were a bid to support the development of Bermuda's labour market through providing incentives to employers to hire full time workers. "Employers paying the standard rate of payroll tax, hotels and restaurants are granted a special relief for each full-time employee. A full-time employee is one who has worked for the employer for at least 30 hours per week.''