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Taxation on fringe benefits
Monday’s meeting ‘clarifies
some points’
by David Kelleher
A meeting held last Monday between the Constituted bodies and
the Minister of Finance John Dalli on the taxation on fringe
benefits has helped to clarify some points.
Contacted yesterday, Mr Dalli said the meeting with all the
constituted bodies was held on Monday and a number of issues
were clarified. “A number of points were made clear,”
Mr Dalli told The Malta Business Weekly.
Attempts to get a reaction from the Constituted bodies proved
futile yesterday, however well-informed sources said that the
meeting was “on the whole useless”.
Last week, The Malta Business Weekly had reported Minister Dalli
as saying “there was no room for negotiation on this issue”
with the result that the Constituted bodies considered not attending
Monday’s meeting since the Minister refused to budge on
the fringe benefits issue.
Meanwhile, this newspaper has learnt that the final draft of
the legal notice that will, in effect, bind the guidelines presented
to Parliament two weeks into law, is not yet ready and the publication
has been postponed until next week.
“There are some sections of the legal notice that are still
being clarified and therefore it will not be published this
week but possibly next week,” the sources said.
As from next month, fringe benefits will be taxed according
to guidelines issued by the Finance Ministry.
The constituted bodies, while agreeing that certain abuses exist,
feel that the tax was being introduced without proper consultation.
A number of companies said they are still trying to work out
ways of reducing the effect on their employees’ salaries.
They are also emphasising that they will not be increasing salaries
to make good for the decreases in workers’ salaries.
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