AIRLINE TICKET SCAM.

A massive airline ticket scam running into more than TT$120 million in annual tax losses to the Government, has been broken up, reports The Express newspaper (January 29, 1999). The paper said the Value Added Tax (VAT) office uncovered the scam, involving the annual loss of millions of dollars in corporate and business levy taxes as well as foreign exchange since the introduction of the 15% VAT in 1990: Travel Agents Association president Wayne Rodriguez said that local travel agents were working in tandem with agencies in the North American market to encourage local travelers not to pay the VAT on their tickets for travel from Trinidad & Tobago. He explained that the scam involved local travelers paying the overseas travel agents for their airline tickets which were then issued by the local agent for travel out of the country, and therefore they did not have to pay VAT; Rodriguez said that US$440 million was spent in airline travel annually out of the country and that 30% of the tickets sold by BWIA International Airways were paid for outside the country, especially in North America, for travel originating in Trinidad & Tobago. This is no longer the case, since effective January 1 this year VAT must be paid here when tickets which were paid for in another country are collected from the airline or agency in Trinidad & Tobago.