INCOME tax assessments for 2006 will be issued in two batches this year owing to a big increase in workload at the tax office caused by the Itis system.

Islanders who do not pay their tax through Itis deductions will receive their 2006 assessments during the last week of September or first week of October. Those on the Itis system will receive their assessments in mid-November, compared to early October last year. Deputy Comptroller of Income Tax David Le Cuirot said that the increase in workload was due to a rise in the number of taxpayers receiving assessments. He said: ‘The introduction of Itis has meant that the number of individuals liable to pay tax has increased.’ These included some of the people coming to the Island on a seasonal basis. Before 2006, many of them would have escaped tax as their income would have been below the income tax threshold. ‘Now, these people are only entitled to a proportion of the tax allowances and thresholds calculated by the amount of time they were in the Island,’ he said.