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• Body owes employees, fails to pay withdrawn taxes
By André Lowe
The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has failed to pay over $16.4 million in statutory taxes to the relevant authorities in a twist, which can result in serious implications for the employees of the pauperised organisation. To make matters worse, over $1.3 million is presently owed to staff members for salary payments stretching over a two-month period.
It is not clear as to the level of employees affected or the length of the non-payment as it relates to the statutory deductions, as the details are still being investigated by the new administration, which took office a week ago. However, JFF sources pointed to the fact that $9 million of the accumulated $16.4 million is owed directly to PAYE, indicating that the deductions were withheld for close to a year, conservatively.
One of the bodies affected, the National Housing Trust (NHT) indicated to the Sunday Herald the extent of the seriousness of the offence. Under section 37 (4) (a) of the NHT Act, failure to pay over NHT contributions is regarded and treated as a civil offence.
According to a NHT document, delinquent employers can be fined up to three times the amount of contributions outstanding for not submitting their returns. There is also a 20 percent penalty that is charged per annum on the value of contributions outstanding. Additionally, many business transactions, especially with the government, require a TRN and a Tax Compliance Certificate (TCC). Individuals and companies, who do not pay over their contributions to the Housing Trust, will not be able to collect a Clearance Letter.
The document went on to confirm that affected employees face the possibility of missing out on NHT benefits.
It read: “The failure of employers to pay outstanding contributions or submit annual returns may prevent employees from accessing their NHT benefits and may also prevent them from collecting their contributions refund when it becomes due.”
New JFF treasurer Gary Sinclair could not speak definitely on the matter, pointing out that he has not had enough time to fully examine the situation.
“I do not have all the information at this moment. I don’t want to speculate at this time. However we will be moving swiftly to find some sort of resolution. We don’t want this situation to prevail much longer so we will be seeking negotiations with the hope of getting these deductions credited to the workers, as we are aware of the benefits that are being threatened,” said Sinclair.
Despite the severity of this issue, it remains just one concern on a mammoth $95 million deficit faced by the newly appointed Captain Horace Burrell administration, which also owe substantial sums to the English Football Association (FA), recently terminated technical director Velibor ‘Bora’ Milutinovic and Burrell himself.
To compound the situation, the JFF reports a debit bank balance of $7.4 million brought on by overdrafts and other loans. This essentially means that the nation’s most powerful sporting administration is flat broke.
Negotiations are being sought with executives from the English FA in an attempt to mitigate the $22.5 million owed to them, after the former JFF administration failed to pay over $17 million worth of tickets to the FA that were sold on their behalf for a June 6, 2006 friendly between the two countries. The constant devaluation of the Jamaican dollar has resulted in the steady increasing of the actual debt to the FA.
The Sunday Herald further understands that a letter written to the English FA earlier this year, promised re-compensation no later than November 2, 2007, two days before the Crenston Boxhill administration demitted office.
‘Bora’, in the meantime, is yet to receive approximately $24 million in unpaid salaries and should be paid in full by November 15. ‘Bora’, who signed a lucrative US$1 million-a-year contract a year ago, was unsurprisingly sacked after a string of poor performances by the national senior team and a subsequent plummet in the international rankings. It is understood that $17 million of the sum owed to him is to be paid by the financial institutions that agreed to fund half of his salary upon his arrival.
However, there is controversy surrounding the remaining $7 million, which was said to have been paid over to the JFF by several partners, but to date have not been found as it is not present in any JFF account.
Sinclair said, “it’s really a case where the previous administration managed to secure partners to fund the salary and emolument package for ‘Bora’, which valued US$1 million a year in salary and emoluments. They received the money from the partners but we are not seeing it anywhere.”
Speaking on the federation’s finances, Burrell accused the previous administration of misleading the country into thinking that the organisation was in good financial stead.
“It’s incredible that this is so, having heard these revelations of profitability on the radio, television and in the newspapers,” said Burrell.
Sinclair also pointed to incorrect projections on the part of the previous administration, highlighting that funds that were not going directly to the JFF’s coffers were listed as “receivables” such as funds for the development of the football academy in St. Elizabeth.
The adjusted “receivables” balance currently stands at $27.7 million and includes monies from sponsors and regional regulators. An undetermined sum of money is also owed to the JFF by the organisers of the recent four match Asian tour and indications are that the JFF is experiencing difficulty collecting that.
In the meantime, “payables” account for $83.4 million and includes $3.3 million owed to parish associations, $5 million owed to National Premier League clubs, a long term $15 million debt to Captain Burrell and the monies owed to Milutinovic, English FA and the government.
The financial situation has forced the new administration to scrap plans previously laid out for the national senior and Under-17 women teams to stage camps ahead of international assignments. The federation is in need of $4 million to send the teams to tournaments in Cuba and Antigua and Barbuda respectively.
By André Lowe
The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has failed to pay over $16.4 million in statutory taxes to the relevant authorities in a twist, which can result in serious implications for the employees of the pauperised organisation. To make matters worse, over $1.3 million is presently owed to staff members for salary payments stretching over a two-month period.
It is not clear as to the level of employees affected or the length of the non-payment as it relates to the statutory deductions, as the details are still being investigated by the new administration, which took office a week ago. However, JFF sources pointed to the fact that $9 million of the accumulated $16.4 million is owed directly to PAYE, indicating that the deductions were withheld for close to a year, conservatively.
One of the bodies affected, the National Housing Trust (NHT) indicated to the Sunday Herald the extent of the seriousness of the offence. Under section 37 (4) (a) of the NHT Act, failure to pay over NHT contributions is regarded and treated as a civil offence.
According to a NHT document, delinquent employers can be fined up to three times the amount of contributions outstanding for not submitting their returns. There is also a 20 percent penalty that is charged per annum on the value of contributions outstanding. Additionally, many business transactions, especially with the government, require a TRN and a Tax Compliance Certificate (TCC). Individuals and companies, who do not pay over their contributions to the Housing Trust, will not be able to collect a Clearance Letter.
The document went on to confirm that affected employees face the possibility of missing out on NHT benefits.
It read: “The failure of employers to pay outstanding contributions or submit annual returns may prevent employees from accessing their NHT benefits and may also prevent them from collecting their contributions refund when it becomes due.”
New JFF treasurer Gary Sinclair could not speak definitely on the matter, pointing out that he has not had enough time to fully examine the situation.
“I do not have all the information at this moment. I don’t want to speculate at this time. However we will be moving swiftly to find some sort of resolution. We don’t want this situation to prevail much longer so we will be seeking negotiations with the hope of getting these deductions credited to the workers, as we are aware of the benefits that are being threatened,” said Sinclair.
Despite the severity of this issue, it remains just one concern on a mammoth $95 million deficit faced by the newly appointed Captain Horace Burrell administration, which also owe substantial sums to the English Football Association (FA), recently terminated technical director Velibor ‘Bora’ Milutinovic and Burrell himself.
To compound the situation, the JFF reports a debit bank balance of $7.4 million brought on by overdrafts and other loans. This essentially means that the nation’s most powerful sporting administration is flat broke.
Negotiations are being sought with executives from the English FA in an attempt to mitigate the $22.5 million owed to them, after the former JFF administration failed to pay over $17 million worth of tickets to the FA that were sold on their behalf for a June 6, 2006 friendly between the two countries. The constant devaluation of the Jamaican dollar has resulted in the steady increasing of the actual debt to the FA.
The Sunday Herald further understands that a letter written to the English FA earlier this year, promised re-compensation no later than November 2, 2007, two days before the Crenston Boxhill administration demitted office.
‘Bora’, in the meantime, is yet to receive approximately $24 million in unpaid salaries and should be paid in full by November 15. ‘Bora’, who signed a lucrative US$1 million-a-year contract a year ago, was unsurprisingly sacked after a string of poor performances by the national senior team and a subsequent plummet in the international rankings. It is understood that $17 million of the sum owed to him is to be paid by the financial institutions that agreed to fund half of his salary upon his arrival.
However, there is controversy surrounding the remaining $7 million, which was said to have been paid over to the JFF by several partners, but to date have not been found as it is not present in any JFF account.
Sinclair said, “it’s really a case where the previous administration managed to secure partners to fund the salary and emolument package for ‘Bora’, which valued US$1 million a year in salary and emoluments. They received the money from the partners but we are not seeing it anywhere.”
Speaking on the federation’s finances, Burrell accused the previous administration of misleading the country into thinking that the organisation was in good financial stead.
“It’s incredible that this is so, having heard these revelations of profitability on the radio, television and in the newspapers,” said Burrell.
Sinclair also pointed to incorrect projections on the part of the previous administration, highlighting that funds that were not going directly to the JFF’s coffers were listed as “receivables” such as funds for the development of the football academy in St. Elizabeth.
The adjusted “receivables” balance currently stands at $27.7 million and includes monies from sponsors and regional regulators. An undetermined sum of money is also owed to the JFF by the organisers of the recent four match Asian tour and indications are that the JFF is experiencing difficulty collecting that.
In the meantime, “payables” account for $83.4 million and includes $3.3 million owed to parish associations, $5 million owed to National Premier League clubs, a long term $15 million debt to Captain Burrell and the monies owed to Milutinovic, English FA and the government.
The financial situation has forced the new administration to scrap plans previously laid out for the national senior and Under-17 women teams to stage camps ahead of international assignments. The federation is in need of $4 million to send the teams to tournaments in Cuba and Antigua and Barbuda respectively.
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