Crown Agents was selected by the States' Finance and Economics Committee to assess the feasibility of a Goods and Services Tax (GST), and design a prototype tax that would meet the £40-45 million of an anticipated revenue gap, expected to occur during 2008-2010.
Following wide-ranging consultation, we proposed several solutions, concluding that a broad-based GST system with a single rate of three percent and a registration threshold of £300,000, introduced within three years, would meet the required revenue yield.
We have developed appropriate legislation - an important step in the programme as it acts as a trigger for other components, such as recruitment and training of staff and stakeholder communications and education programmes. Communications were designed to make the process transparent and to involve stakeholders throughout, which resulted in a high level of acceptance and compliance by registered taxpayers.
An independent review, conducted by HM Revenue and Customs, has found that the implementation of GST within the States of Jersey was a successful project.