Resident Interest Withholding Tax

General Information

The Government has introduced legislation, which will require banks and other financial institutions to deduct withholding tax of 20% from payments of interest to its customers. This legislation was effective from 1 January, 1999.

Previous years withholding tax rates

Years	Rate
2012	20 %
2011	31 %
2010	31 %
2009	31 %
2008	31 %
2007	31 %

 

Resident Interest Withholding Tax (RIWT) shall not be payable where:

Interest income received where the principal deposit is derived from exempt income :

• interest income received by the depositor in the current year does not exceed two hundred dollars FJ$200. In those cases where interest is paid or credited monthly, quarterly or on some other basis, no withholding tax will be deducted if total interest earned in that period does not exceed the yearly equivalent of FJ$200 for those periods.

• A Certificate of Exemption (COE), which is issued by the Authority, is provided to the taxpayer upon application who then forwards it to the financial institution so that no RIWT is deducted. A COE will be issued in those cases where:

• The person/organisation is exempt from income tax under the provisions of the Income Tax Act Cap. 201 (e.g. charitable and religious bodies).

Where to lodge your application

The form can be hand delivered to any of our Customer Service Centres or sent by post. You do not need to buy a stamp for the envelope, as correspondence addressed to the Commissioner will be carried by Post Fiji free of charge.

What are the requirements for the application of RIWT Exemption Certificate?

RIWT is collected by banks from interest paid, if the source of the deposit is not exempt income. Tax exempt persons need to have a COE to avoid having RIWT deducted from their interest.

A certificate of exemption will only be issued to the following bank account categories;

• Term deposits
• Fixed deposits
• Savings accounts for any religious and non-profit organisations

Before a COE will be given, the applicant must:

• have all their tax returns lodged and
• have all their taxes paid and
• be able to explain the source of the funds on which interest is earned.

If the applicant does not have a TIN, they must complete the form Application for Registration as well as the Application Form for COE from RIWT.

What to submit with the application form for RIWT COE

Evidence of source of funds must be submitted together with your application.

If there is any other source of the funds, you are to provide a full description.

Sources of funds may include:

• business profits.
• savings from salary.
• withdrawals from FNPF.
• sale of assets.

If the source is from sale of assets, describe each asset and give its net sale price, for example: “sale of house at 21 Ocean Street Suva for FJ$100,000 net of agent’s commission”.

If the application is successful the person will be given a COE, which they can show to their bank. The bank will then not deduct RIWT. RIWT Certificates of Exemption are renewed when the term deposits matures.

Validity of COE

The Certificate is valid only from the issue date of the  term deposit certificate  to the expiry date of the term deposit certificate.

Further information

For further assistance on Resident interest withholding tax , you may send an email request to:

tepu@frca.org.fj,  cectaxquerysuv@frca.org.fj or info@frca.org.fj

 

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