Yesterday, Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) Tax Fair 2018 got underway in Heroes Square with staff engaging members of the public with regards to income tax filing, taxpayers rights and obligations, registering for events and land assessment queries.
BRA becoming more customer-centric
The Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) is seeking to distinguish itself as a public service institution with a difference by providing outstanding and consistent customer experiences.
To this end, BRA has been working with the National Initiative for Service Excellence (NISE) to initiate service improvements as part of its internal reforms.
“The fact that we provide a mandatory service, does not absolve us from the requirement to treat our fellow citizens with dignity and respect,” stressed Revenue Commissioner (Ag), Wayne Forde during the launch of BRA’s Customer Service Charter and Tax Fair 2018 in Heroes Square, yesterday.
He explained that this Charter details what taxpayers have a right to expect from BRA as a tax administration while also acknowledging what BRA expects from taxpayers.
In so doing the Charter is guided by five key Principles – under Taxpayers Rights they can expect courtesy, competence and fairness. Whereas, in terms of Taxpayer Obligations, BRA expects courtesy & cooperation and information & assistance.
“Although we have completed this step in enhancing our service delivery journey we are currently working on establishing specific service standards which will measure the success of our Service Charter pledge. This step is a continuation of our partnership with NISE,” he indicated.
“We are dedicated to enhancing the service experience when stakeholders interact with us. We are seeking to be more proactive in our approach to improved service delivery.”
Rhonda Bryan-Hutson, Trainer Customer Service at NISE further revealed that in collaboration with NISE, BRA has set out to engage in a number of initiatives which include: customer satisfaction, branding, service standards development, and service excellence training.
“A number of activities are actively underway to make “Tax Easy”,” she pointed out.
“Also, if you had visited the Customer Service payment section over the past two weeks, you would have observed improvements to the environment as well as NISE survey team gathering feedback through Customer Surveys. This was part of a new NISE Initiative, ‘The NISE Excellence in Service (NES) Rating.’” (TL)