Employers who have fallen seriously behind on Government remittances could face legal action if they do not clear their debts.

The stern message was delivered at a Press conference held jointly between Attorney General Larry Mussenden and Finance Minister Paula Cox on Wednesday.

Mr. Mussenden read the riot act to those in arrears on pension and social insurance payments.

And he said that a Debt Enforcement Unit will be set up "to assist in pursuing the recovery of a considerable amount of uncollected social insurance contributions and payroll taxes owing to Government".

The two Cabinet Ministers revealed delinquent employers were more than 90 days behind on $10 million in pension contribution remittances and $16.8 million in payroll tax remittances.

Mr. Mussenden said that outstanding receivables ? including employer/employee contributions and land tax ? currently stands at about $37 million.

That is $7 million up on where things stood at the end of 2003, according to the Auditor General's report from last June.

At that time, Auditor General Larry Dennis raised fears that some of the monies ? with the debt for 2003 put at nearly $31 million in tax and pension arrears ? may never be recovered, and urged the Finance Ministry to be more aggressive in collecting contributions.

Ms Cox yesterday said that the Tax Commissioner's Office, under the PLP Government, had been given the green light to audit the accounts of specific taxpayers, leading to "the seemingly large increase of $7.7 million in payroll taxes between the years 2002 and 2003".

Mr. Mussenden stressed that although his office was poised to use the law to go after debtors, no one wanted to "make life miserable for persons or put employers out of business".

He offered an olive branch to those who have fallen behind on Government remittances but wanted to clear the debt. "We will do all we can to assist parties in settling their debts," he said.

Ms Cox said Government's Debt Management Section had already set up 315 instalment plans with debtors. However, some serious cases had been forwarded to the Department of Public Prosecutions.

Mr. Mussenden said those who make no effort to turn over the monies owed will be held accountable.

"Those employers who presently have outstanding taxes owing to Government are strongly urged to do their utmost to ensure that they settle such debts expeditiously to avoid legal action being taken against them," he said.

The threat of action from the Attorney General's chambers follows the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) ? a joint committee of the House ? last July charging that that the AG's office was stalling on taking action to recover debts.

A report from the PAC recommended that the Finance Ministry "support the Tax Commissioner and the Director of Social Insurance in their efforts to address the serious lack of cooperation from the AG's Chambers in pursuing delinquent debts".

Ms Cox yesterday said every legal recourse would be taken against those whose debt had "risen to an unacceptable level", adding that decisions on when debts should be pursued through the Court were taken on a case by case basis.

And she said technological advances should also lead to staff being able to more aggressively pursue outstanding debts.

"With the increasing use of the new tax e-system, which since July 2002 has brought in $115 million, and proposed enhancements of their back-end systems, the Tax Commissioner's office will gradually shift their focus and resources from taxpayer file maintenance (which currently consumes the bulk of their time) to debt collection activities," she said.

"In the next five years, the goal is to have at least six of their current staff dedicated to debt collection."