Government Announces Tax Amnesty for MSMEs Nationwide

Micro, small and medium-sized (MSME) businesses can now capitalize on a tax forgiveness period as announced this afternoon by the Office of the Prime Minister. The program provides MSMEs operating in Belize with an opportunity to formalize their business through the BTS. Once registered, businesses will benefit from a one-year exemption from business tax and will not be liable for any accrued penalties or interest related to past tax obligations.  It was just this week that Prime Minister Briceno spoke of considerations for tax reforms.

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “I think these laws were passed before our time but in an effort to ensure that people pay their taxes the penalties are onerous. I guess the framers back then felt that if we do it onerous people will  pay their taxes. But I think it’s having the adverse effect, that once those onerous penalties are being instilled on these small entrepreneurs many are saying, you know what, man I can’t pay this so might as well I just give up. And we can’t do that, we need to change that and so we’ve been discussing, and pretty soon I think we’ll have to go to Cabinet to be able to see how we could change those onerous penalties. We need to encourage, especially our small entrepreneurs, the big businesses I believe that they need to be audited regularly, and they need to pay what they owe.”

It is to be noted that some businesses are exempted from this program, namely, gaming and lotteries, real estate, large-scale importing, financial and money lending services, petroleum-related businesses, and entertainment promotions (with the exception of local artists).  The tax amnesty is an initiative through the Office of the Prime Minister, in collaboration with the Ministry of Investment’s Investment Policy and Compliance Unit (IPCU), the Belize Tax Service (BTS), BELTRAIDE, and the Economic Development Council (EDC).  It has been officially dubbed as the Fiscal Incentive MSME Business Tax Amnesty Program. The amnesty program is open to MSMEs that are not currently registered with BTS, as well as those that registered from 2023 onward. Applications for the Fiscal Incentive MSME Business Tax Amnesty Program must be submitted on or before October 29, 2025.