Government plans to merge Customs and Revenue agencies in Tax Reform effort

Santo Domingo.- The government plans to merge the Directorate General of Customs (DGA) and the Directorate General of Internal Revenue (DGII) into a single Tax Administration. This move is part of broader efforts to streamline public institutions, reduce government spending, and introduce comprehensive tax reform. The goal is to eliminate redundancy by consolidating entities with similar functions, which will also pave the way for tax process simplification.

A new “monotributo” system will be introduced to replace advance payments for small and micro businesses (SMEs), alongside the implementation of “Tax Scoring,” a tool to help taxpayers monitor and correct their tax status, reducing late fees and sanctions. Additionally, the government seeks to address significant tax evasion, currently estimated at 47% for the ITBIS tax and 63% for income tax.

The reform includes potential mergers of other ministries, such as combining the Ministries of Education, Sport, and Culture, and merging the Ministries of Youth and Women into a Family Ministry to eliminate duplicated functions and reduce costs. The Chamber of Accounts may also be merged with the General Comptroller’s Office to create a unified auditing and government accounting entity. These measures follow recommendations from international organizations like the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to improve state efficiency.