business@tribunemedia.net
Monday, March 16, 2026
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Food stores face ‘nightmare’ on VAT exempt compliance
the Davis administration will create an administrative and compliance “nightmare” for the industry if it proceeds with the current plans and structure for its latest bid to ease cost of living pressures for Bahamian households. The Government’s decision to treat the elimination of VAT on uncooked foods as VAT ‘exempt’, as opposed to ‘zero rated’, has added fresh complexity to food stores’ monthly and
D’Aguilar: VAT savings pledge ‘election gimmick quarterly VAT filings by creating a new and separate category of goods they will have to break-out and account for in their submissions to the Department of Inland Revenue (DIR). Mr D’Aguilar, also an ex-minister of tourism and aviation, told this newspaper that merchants will now have to determine which products are VAT ‘zero rated’, ‘exempt’, or attract a 5 percent or 10 percent levy. He explained
Briland operator: Meddling hits $700k tax debt pay-off BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BRILAND tourism operator is alleging that interference by its estranged former US business partner has left it struggling to generate sufficient revenues to survive and pay-off more than $700,000 in unpaid tax arrears owed to the Department of Inland Revenue. Julian ‘Shaq’ Gibson, operator of the Conch & Coconut tour operator, destination management and visitor “concierge” business, in a February 11, 2026, affidavit filed with the Bahamian Supreme Court asserted that multiple trademark violation complaints
filed by Pablo Conde have been “extremely time-consuming and disruptive” to operations on Harbour Island because it has forced him to constantly search for new website and booking platform hosts. The documents form part of the latest battle in the pair’s increasingly acrimonious and messy business partnership break-up. Each is accusing the other of breaching court Orders on both sides of the Florida straits, and urging separate judicial forums to hold the other party in ‘contempt of court’ and impose sanctions upon them.
DISPUTE - See Page B6
‘Cut losses’ over Rubis fuel leak damages case By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN homeowner’s $159,450 damages award over the 2012 fuel leak from Rubis Bahamas’ Robinson Road gas station has been overturned by the highest court in this country’s judicial system which has urged both sides to “cut their losses”. The London-based Privy Council, while finding that the petroleum products supplier was liable for the 24,000-gallon leak of unleaded fuel, also ruled
DIONISIO D’AGUILAR
Pleads for Gov’t meeting in bid to make ‘simpler’ RUPERT ROBERTS
that both the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal failed to assess the evidence and determine whether Antoinette Russell’s property - located opposite the south-east corner of the Robinson Road and Old Trail Road gas station - was actually impacted by the 2012 leak. Her home had previously been contaminated by a 1994 gasoline leak from the same service station, but the Court of Appeal had already held that Rubis Bahamas could
POLLUTE - See Page B10
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Top hotels targeting up to 10% revenue rise through Easter
Super Value chief warning over returns ‘workload’
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FOOD merchants fear the “workload” created by new tax rules will make it “impossible to comply” with timely and accurate VAT filings, Super Value’s owner is warning, while asserting all would be “hunky dory” if the elimination of tax on uncooked foods is made “simpler”. Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business it would be far easier for the Government to make uncooked foods ‘zero rated’, as opposed to VAT ‘exempt’, from April 1, 2026, onwards amid rising concerns over how his 13-store supermarket chain and other retailers will “manage our next VAT returns”. And his concerns were echoed by Dionisio D’Aguilar, the former AML Foods chairman, who argued that
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that they will have to undergo this process for all of the hundreds, if not thousands, of products they carry on their shelves, thereby increasing both the time and money that has to be devoted to tax administration and compliance. “I spoke to someone else in the food business, and they were of the view that this is really going to add an enormous amount
TAXATION - See Page B7
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net MAJOR resorts are forecasting a 5-10 percent year-over-year revenue increase for Easter and the remainder of the peak winter tourism season, it was revealed yesterday, amid optimism The Bahamas will “find a way through” the fall-out from the Middle East conflict. Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president of government and external affairs, told Tribune Business that “forward bookings through Easter are very strong” despite the growing uncertainties associated with the war between the US and Israel and Iran. He added that there has been no “indication to-date” that the conflict, and its likely economic impacts, have affected bookings for Bahamian vacations. Energy and transportation costs are among the sectors likely to be most impacted, due to crude
ROBERT SANDS oil prices spiking to $103 per barrel on Friday, with average jet fuel prices rising 58.4 percent last week to $157.41 per barrel according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). However, Mr Sands said The Bahamas’ proximity to the US - its main tourist source market, accounting for 90 percent of visitors - means it will likely “not be hit as hard” by any surge in airline ticket prices. And he acknowledged that the continued growth of cruise tourism, which generated some 10.6m visitors in 2025, is “another benefit to The Bahamas at
AVIATION - See Page B7