IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

For the business community, transacting online with the government is now becoming the norm. Having easy and convenient online access to government services at all times means saving time and money for businesses. This is in line with Malta’s national drive to promote a pro-enterprise environment and to facilitate business growth. The Ministry for IT and Investment is determined to take forward e-Government and is constantly rolling out new initiatives to facilitate both citizen and business transactions. The government portal, www.gov.mt, is the first entry point for citizens and businesses to access a full suite of aggregated information and services. For easy navigation, services are presented according to intuitive categories. This ensures that customers can retrieve information and e-services quickly.

By going online, a businessman no longer needs to liaise with multiple agencies or fill up multiple forms when requiring government services. Furthermore, the Government Payment Gateway allows for the payment of government services on-line in a secure environment and in a confidential manner.

e-Government services speed up the overall process, save time, and are a better way of doing “business”. The most obvious benefit provided by electronic government is having 24-hour remote access to government transactions and services.

The eLicences, VAT and Inland Revenue websites are examples of electronic services designed to provide one-stop convenience.

e-Government services for businesses

eLicences online service

The elicences website is a service offered by the government as part of the e-Government initiative. Its aim is to further facilitate the service offered to licence holders. So far this website deals with licences issued by the following authorities:

• The Trade Licensing Unit;
• The Malta Tourism Authority; and
• The Malta Transport Authority.

The services offered in relation to the licences issued by the above authorities include:

• General information on the type of licences offered, as well as the procedures in relation to new applications, renewals, transfers, and cancellations;
• Downloadable application forms; and
• On-line renewal payment system.

In the near future this website will also cater for licences issued by other authorities.

The government is aware that for businesses, time means money, especially for the owner/manager of the small business that typically has to carry out all the administrative tasks personally. The government also appreciates that in most cases opening hours of departments clash with the peak business hours. In line with its commitment to improve the government-to-business relationship, the government launched eLicences – a 24 x 7, one-stop Internet service to cater for all licensing requirements of businesses.

Through eLicences, the small businessman need no longer waste precious time queuing at offices to pay licence renewals. Paying online is convenient, secure and will aid in delivering dedicated care and attention to helping e-business settle and grow. Moreover present and prospective licence holders have one single point of reference from where they can obtain all the relevant forms and information pertaining to licences.

The website can be accessed through www.gov.mt, then clicking on “Work & Business”, and finally on “Licence renewals”.

VAT online service

As an integral part of the e-Government programme, this site offers a number of online electronic services, which are intended to facilitate further the interaction between the VAT Department and its clients. The online services currently available are the Order for Manual Fiscal Receipt Books, Register Online and Online VAT Return/Declaration.

VAT registered persons (exempt) may submit their VAT Return electronically. It will soon also be possible for VAT registered persons (not exempt) to submit their VAT Return online, together with online payments of VAT.

The website can be accessed through www.gov.mt, then clicking on “Employment and Income”, and finally on “Value Added Tax”.

Inland Revenue online service

The Inland Revenue website offers a suite of online services available to taxpayers and tax practitioners over the Internet.

Through this website, tax practitioners may submit company Income Tax Returns on behalf of their corporate clients. Tax practitioners are also given the possibility to view their clients’ tax payments and statements over the Internet and to submit Provisional Tax Reduction Forms. Tax practitioners have also the facility to extract reports on their registered clients.

Tax practitioners have to be registered with the Inland Revenue to use these services and taxpayers have to authorise their tax practitioners (using the prescribed forms) to communicate with the Inland Revenue on their behalf.

Towards the end of this year the Inland Revenue will be extending IR Services On-line for employers.

Employers will be able to submit:

FS5 information and generate a remittance slip for payment,
• Submit End of Year documents FS7 and related FS3 Tax and Social Security files and receive on-line acknowledgement. Employers will need to apply for this service and the Inland Revenue will provide them with a digital certificate for authentication purposes.

The website can be accessed through www.gov.mt, then clicking on “Employment and Income”, and finally on “Inland Revenue”.

Benefits that e-Government brings to businesses

• Time and Money: Businesses can save time and money by dealing with the government online, completing processes in hours instead of weeks or months.
• Reliability: Every online service and transaction has a standard procedure, which corporations are led through step by step. Interacting with the government is made simple and easy.
• Comfort: e-Government simplifies interaction with the government. e-Government enables anytime anywhere alternatives for taking care of government business, making it faster and easier.
• Authority: e-Government enables businesses to interact with the government on their terms, saving them time and trouble.

E-government provides new and easy ways for citizens and businesses to participate and access a myriad of services and information more efficiently and effectively. As the number of users increase, businesses find a larger and better informed and connected market to use their services and products. e-Government helps individuals, businesses and the community turn possibilities into reality and acts as a stimulus to encourage greater use of information technology within Malta.

Quelle: Malta Business Weekly