THE BOARD OF INLAND REVENUE OF THE MINISTRY OF …

THE BOARD OF INLAND REVENUE

OF THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND THE ECONOMY

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE ELECTRONIC APPLICATION FOR A

BIR FILE NUMBER/VAT REGISTRATION

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Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 3

Overview ..................................................................................................................................................... 4

What is a BIR File Number? ................................................................................................................. 4

What is VAT registration?.................................................................................................................... 4

The Application Process .......................................................................................................................... 5

Searching for an Application................................................................................................................. 29

Searching for an Invalid Acknowledgment/Acknowledged/Draft/Submitted Application 30

Deleting a Draft Application ............................................................................................................. 31

Further Assistance .................................................................................................................................. 32

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Introduction

This Instruction Manual is meant to be a detailed guide to the user/applicant as it pertains

to applying for a Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) File Number and registering for Value

Added Tax (VAT) with the Board of Inland Revenue of the Ministry of Finance and the

Economy of Trinidad and Tobago. It takes you through the application process in a step-by-

step manner and uses actual screenshots that correspond to the part of the process you are

currently completing. Please read carefully before starting your application so that you

become familiar with the format of the document and process necessary for successfully

completing this application.

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Overview What is a BIR File Number?

A BIR File Number is a number issued by the Board of Inland Revenue. All companies and partnerships are legally obligated to register for a BIR File Number to be used in the payment of taxes and filing of returns. This number must be quoted on all correspondence to the BIR. There is no fee for this service. What is VAT registration?

VAT registration is the signing up of a business or company with the BIR in order to be able to charge Value Added Tax (VAT) on the price of your good or service. All persons making commercial supplies of three hundred and sixty thousand Trinidad and Tobago dollars (TT$360,000.00) or more in the preceding twelve (12) month period or having evidence (in the sales forecast) that supplies will exceed TT$360,000.00 in a twelve (12) month period must register for VAT. There is no fee for this service.

NOTE:- The application form for a BIR File Number and VAT registration is the same. You simply need to select, at the beginning of the application, what you are applying for.

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The Application Process

1. Go to the TTBizLink website at www.ttbizlink.gov.tt. Click on the Login button as shown below.

You will be taken to an Online Security Alert page, the bottom of which contains a button indicating to continue the Login process. Please read carefully before proceeding. See screen shot below.

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http://www.ttbizlink.gov.tt/

Once you have clicked the ‘Continue to Login with ttconnect ID’ you will be taken to the Login page where you will be required to enter your 13-digit ttconnect ID, as well as your password. Upon successful authentication, you will be directed to the various e-services. The ones you are subscribed for will be in red.

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2. Click on “e-Company/Partnership BIR and VAT Registration (Subscribed)”. You will be greeted by a screen like the one below. Please note that as a new user/applicant your Inbox will be empty. To submit an application for a BIR File Number/ VAT registration, click on the ‘New Application for BIR File Number/VAT Registration’ link on the bottom left hand side of the screen under the Board of Inland Revenue menu heading.

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3. Upon clicking the link, the following TTBizLink Terms and Conditions dialogue box will appear. Please click on, and read the TERMS AND CONDITIONS AGREEMENT AND PRIVACY STATEMENT.

- If you agree to accept the Terms and Conditions Agreement and Privacy Statement of TTBizLink click ‘I AGREE’. If you do not agree to the Terms and Conditions Agreement and Privacy Statement of TTBizLink click ‘I DISAGREE’ at which point you will be taken back to the TTBizLink Home page. You will not be able to access the online application. When you agree to the Terms and Conditions Agreement and Privacy Statement of TTBizLink, you will be taken to the application page.

While completing the form, please pay attention to the fields marked with an asterisk (*) since these are Mandatory Fields. If a mandatory field has not been filled in or the data format is entered incorrectly, a prompt (in red) will appear below the relevant field indicating its omission or incorrectness.

As you proceed with the application form, also pay attention to those fields which may have an information tool-tip ( ) since they contain valuable explanations. Additionally, some fields may have predefined data for selection by the user contained in a drop-down list indicated by a single downward pointing triangle ( ).

It is important to also note that after thirty (30) minutes of inactivity on the site, a dialogue box, as the one below, will appear. This box will remain active for two (2) minutes. If the applicant does not respond to the instructions within this timeframe, the applicant will be automatically logged out of the system and will have to login again to access the application.

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This application contains three (3) tabs- Application Details, Directors/Partners Details and Supporting Documents Details each of which contains mandatory fields that must be filled out.

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4. The first tab to be filled out is “Application Details”. This tab consists of eight (8) sections. The first section is “Application Details. The fields in this section are explained in the table below:-

Field Name Description Mandatory (Yes/No)

Applying for The purpose of this application, that is, whether it is for a BIR File Number, for VAT registration or both.

Yes

Reason for applying

The reason that you need to apply. There are two (2) options available in the drop down box for this field- i) Started a new business; or ii) Purchased an existing business

No

Legal Name The registered name of the business as stated on the Business Registration or Company Incorporation certificate issued by the Registrar General.

Yes

Is the Trade Name different from the Legal Name?

State whether or not the business/company has a trade name that is different from the legal name via the “Yes” or “No” radio buttons.

Yes

Trade Name If “Yes” is selected in the field above, the Trade Name needs to be inserted in this field.

Yes

Organizational type that your business falls under

The type of organization that you are applying for. There is a dropdown box from which you can select either Local Company, External Company, Partnership, Government or Trust/Estate.

Yes

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5. The second section to be filled out is “Business Details”.

The fields in this section are explained in the table below:-


Main Area of Business Activity

This is a dropdown list from which the applicant selects the area of business activity that the partnership or company is involved in. Please note that if option # 20. “Other” is selected, an additional mandatory field called “Type of activity” will display in which you must type in the activity.

Yes

Registered date of business

The date of registration as stated on the Business Registration or Company Incorporation certificate issued by the Registrar General.

Yes

Date business was acquired/started

In the case of an existing business that was purchased, the date of purchase would be stated in this field. In the case of a new business, this would be the date the business was registered.

Yes

Accounting period of business

The current period for which the business or company is preparing its financial statements.

Yes

Registrar General’s Registration No.

The registration number of the business or company as stated on the Business Registration or Company Incorporation certificate.

Yes

Title of authorized officer

The job position of the authorized officer. Yes

First name of authorized officer

The first name of the authorized officer. Yes

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Last name of authorized officer

The last name of the authorized officer. Yes

Number of persons employed or to be employed

The number of persons currently working for the business or that the business intends to hire.

Yes

6. The third section to be filled out is “Address of Principal Place of Business”.



Address Line 1 The first line of the address of the main business place of the business or company.

Yes

Address Line 2 The second line of the address of the main business place of the business or company

No

City/Town This field consists of a dropdown list from which you select the city/town in which the principal place of business is located.

Yes

Is the Mailing Address different from above?

This is a yes or no question in which the applicant states whether or not the business has an alternative mailing address. If “No” is selected, no further field need to be filled out. If “Yes” is selected, three (3) additional fields will display. These fields are “Mailing Address Line 1”, “Mailing Address Line 2” and “City/Town”.

Yes

Mailing Address Line 1

The first line of the mailing address of the business.

Yes

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The second line of the mailing address of the business.

No

Mailing City/ Town

This field consists of a dropdown list from which you select the city/town in which the mailing address of the business is located.

Yes

7. The fourth section to be filled out is “Address of Registered Office”.

The fields to be filled out in this section are explained in the table below:-


Address Line 1 The first line of the address of the registered office of the business.

Yes

Address Line 2 The second line of the address of the registered office of the business.

Yes

City/ Town This field consists of a dropdown box from which you select the city or town in which the registered office is located.

No

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8. The fifth section to be filled out is the “Business Contact Details”.



Telephone No. The telephone number of the business or company applying.

Yes

Fax No. The fax number of the business or company applying.

No

Business Website The website name of the business or company applying.

No

Business E-Mail Address

The e-mail address of the business or company applying.

No

9. The sixth section to be filled out is the “Holding Company’s Details”.

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Does a Holding Company exist?

State whether or not a holding company exists by selecting either the “Yes” or “No” radio button. If “No” is selected, you can proceed to fill out the next section of the application. If “Yes” is selected, five (5) new fields would appear:- Holding Company’s name, Address Line 1, Address Line 2, City/Town, Country

Yes

Holding Company’s Name

The name of the holding company. Yes

Address Line 1 The first line of the Holding Company’s address. Yes Address Line 2 The second line of the Holding Company’s

address. No

Country A dropdown list from which the country in which the Holding Company is situated. Note:- If “Trinidad and Tobago” is selected as the country, the city/town field below changes to a dropdown list as well. If any other country is selected, this box remains a free text field.

Yes

City/Town The city/town in which the Holding Company is located.

Yes

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10. The seventh section to be filled out is “Additional Details”.



Are you an exporter? State whether or not your organization is an exporter by selecting the “Yes” or “No” radio button.

Yes

Do you make zero-rated supplies?

State whether or not your organization makes goods that are zero-rated. To determine if your operations fall in this category, the attached VAT Guide can be consulted by clicking on the red “Click here for VAT Guide” link.

No

State the value of your commercial supplies in the 12-month period preceding this application

State the value of your company’s sales for the past year in Trinidad and Tobago dollars ($TT).

Yes

Do you expect your commercial supplies for the next 12 months to exceed TT $ 360,000.00?

State whether or not you expect your sales to exceed TT$ 360,000.00 in the coming twelve (12) months by selecting either the Yes or No radio button.

Yes

Is your Business/Organization a Petroleum Company?

State whether or not your business is a petroleum company by selecting either the Yes or No radio button. If “Yes” is selected, there are two (2) more required fields that must be filled out.

Yes

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State type of Petroleum Company

Using the associated drop down list, select whether your petroleum company is involved in producing or refining of petroleum or both.

Yes

In which of these activities does your company engage?

Using the associated drop down list, select whether your petroleum company is involved in “Exploration and production”, Production sharing contracts” or both.

Yes

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11. The eighth section to be filled out is “Notification Details”.



E-mail address State the e-mail address at which you wish to receive notifications on this application. Please ensure that this is an address that is regularly monitored. A maximum of three (3) addresses separated by a comma without spaces can be entered.

Yes

Once all the mandatory information on the Application Details tab has been filled out, you can proceed to save this tab by selecting the Save button at the base of the application. Upon pressing “Save” you will get the following prompt:-

You can select “Cancel” if you do not wish to save your application. This will take you back to the tab where you can edit the data accordingly.

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Selecting “OK” will assign your application a reference number and a green message would be displayed at the top of your application letting you know that it has been successfully saved.

You can then proceed to fill out the second tab of the application, the “Directors/Partners Details” tab.

12. The second tab to be filled out is “Directors/Partners Details”. This tab consists of three (3) sections. To access these sections, click on “Add”.

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The first section is “Directors/Partners Details”.

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Surname The surname of the director/partner. Yes First Name The first name of the director/partner. Yes Middle Name The middle name of the director/partner. No Date of Birth The date of birth of the director/partner. Click

on the calendar icon to make a selection. No

Is this director resident in Trinidad and Tobago?

Select whether or not the director resides in Trinidad and Tobago by choosing either the “Yes” or “No” radio button. Note:- If “Yes” is selected, the BIR File No. field becomes mandatory. If “No” is selected, a notarized copy of the director’s passport is required and therefore needs to be scanned and uploaded lower down in the application.

Yes

BIR File No. State the BIR File No. of the director/partner. * Conditional Contact No. The phone contact number for the director. Yes E-Mail Address The e-mail address of the director. No

* BIR File No. is a conditional field meaning that it is Mandatory if certain criteria are selected in the application. These criteria are:-

i) If for the question “Is this director resident in Trinidad and Tobago?”, “Yes” is selected.

OR

ii) If in the Residential Address section below, “Trinidad and Tobago” is chosen for the Country field.

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13. The second section of the Directors/Partners details tab is “Residential Address”.



Address Line 1 The first line of the residential address of the director/partner.

Yes

Address Line 2 The second line of the residential address of the director/partner.

No

Country The country in which the director/partner resides. Note:- If “Trinidad and Tobago” is selected as the country of residence, the city/town field below becomes a drop-down list. If any other country is selected, this box remains a free text field.

Yes

City/Town The city/town in which the director resides. Yes Mailing Address is different from the Residential Address

State whether or not the mailing address of the director/partner is different from the residential address above by selecting either the “Yes” or “No” radio button. If “Yes” is selected, the fields pertaining to the mailing address would be displayed.

Yes


The first line of the mailing address of the director/partner.

Yes


The second line of the mailing address of the director/partner.

No

Mailing Country The country in which the mailing address is located.

Yes

Mailing City/Town The city/town in which the mailing address is located.

Yes

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14. The third section of the Directors/Partners details tab is “Employer’s Details”.



Employer’s Name The name of the director’s/partner’s employer. If not otherwise employed, state the name of the applying business/company in this field.

Yes

Employer Address Line 1

The first line of the employer’s address. Yes

Employer Address Line 2

The second line of the employer’s address. No

Employer’s Country

The country in which the employer is located. If “Trinidad and Tobago” is selected, the city/town field below becomes a drop down list. If any other country is selected, this box remains a free text field.

Yes

Employer’s City/Town

The city/town in which the employer is located. Yes

Telephone No. The telephone number of the employer. Yes E-Mail Address The e-mail address of the employer. No

15. The fourth section of the Directors/Partners details tab is “Supporting Document Details”. This section would only display if the director is non-resident. In such an instance, it would show the two (2) attachments required. Please note that the maximum file size per attachment is 1MB. The accepted file types are .jpeg, .bmp, .gif, .pdf, and .doc/docx.

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To attach the required documents, click on the “Attach/Edit Document” button. You should see the following screen:-

From this screen, select the Browse button. Select the file from its location on your computer and click “Submit”.

To remove an attachment, click on the red “Remove” button next to the attachment that you wish to remove.

Once all the required fields are filled out for the first director/partner, click on the Save Details button.

This would then take you back to the list of directors/partners and allow you to add additional directors/partners. To add additional persons, click on the “Add” button. To edit the details of the person that was just added, you can click on the red “Edit” button.

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16. Once all the Directors/Partners have been added, click on the “Save” button to save this tab. You will see a green confirmation message at the top of the screen confirming that the information has been saved. See screenshot below.

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17. The last tab to be filled out is the “Supporting Documents Details” tab.

The first section in this tab is Supporting Document Details. In this section, applicants are required to upload all the mandatory documents for the application, denoted by a red asterisk, as well as, they have the facility to upload any other documents that they wish to attach to the application. Please note that the maximum file size per attachment is 1MB. You will not be able to upload files larger than this. If the file is larger than the stipulated size, it can be split and uploaded in parts. However, you can only upload up to ten (10) attachments. The accepted file types are .jpeg, .bmp, .gif, .pdf and .doc/docx.

To attach a document, click on the “Attach/Edit Documents” button. Your screen should look as follows:-

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From this screen, select the Browse button. Select the file from its location on your computer and click “Attach”. To remove an attachment, click on the red “Remove” button next to the attachment you want to remove.

18. The last section on the application form is “Terms and Conditions”. In this section you are required to agree to the Terms and Conditions of the website by ticking off the checkbox. If you do not check the box, the last tab would not be saved and your application would not be able to be submitted.

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Upon filling out the entire application form you can either choose to Save or Submit your application. If you wish to save your application click on the “Save” button. Once an application is saved you can go back and edit it at a later point in time. Saving an application does NOT send it to the BIR for processing. When you save an application you will see a green notice at the top of the screen informing you that the application has been saved.

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Searching for an Application

1. In the menu on the left hand side of the page, under the Board of Inland Revenue section, click on the link ‘Search Applications/Drafts’.

This will bring up the Search Criteria screen:-

2. Enter an appropriate search criterion or search criteria and click ‘Search’. This may include any, or all of the following: Reference Number, Business Name, Registered date of business and Status.

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Searching for an Invalid Acknowledgment/Acknowledged/Draft/Submitted Application 3. To search for applications that are in draft form, or those which have been invalidly acknowledged, acknowledged or submitted queried, select the appropriate status from the drop-down list, then click the “Search” button. Once your search has been completed, a screen like the one below will appear. Click on the red link in the relevant ‘Reference Number’ Column to view the application or the “Edit” button in the Action column to continue editing it, if it is a draft.

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Deleting a Draft Application

1. To delete a draft application, simply click the check box next to the application

you wish to delete and click the delete button.

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Further Assistance

Should you need additional information or encounter difficulty using TTBizLink, you can call the TTBizLink Help Desk at 800-4SEW (4739) which is accessible Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For information on the processing of the BIR Registration numbers and VAT Registration, you can contact the Inland Revenue Division of the Ministry of Finance and the Economy. The relevant contact information is outlined below. For further information on the BIR number contact: Ministry of Finance and the Economy Registration Unit Taxpayer Services Inland Revenue Division 1st Floor Victoria Courts Queen Street, Port of Spain Trinidad, West Indies Tel. (868) 623-1211-4 Website: http://www.ird.gov.tt/load_page.asp?ID=24 For further information on VAT Registration contact: Ministry of Finance and the Economy Registration Unit Inland Revenue Division Victoria Courts, Queen Street, Port of Spain Trinidad, West Indies Tel: (868) 623-4735/4737 Website: http://www.ird.gov.tt/load_page.asp?ID=28

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http://www.ird.gov.tt/load_page.asp?ID=24

http://www.ird.gov.tt/load_page.asp?ID=28