Richard Summersgill said such a situation was unacceptable and his department intends to tackle it by introducing interest charges on unpaid tax bills.
Jersey currently only places a surcharge on unpaid tax, fining personal taxpayers £300 or the amount equal to their tax if they file late plus a further £50 a month after three months up to a maximum of £450.
The UK, however, charges late payment interest at 3.25% and repayment interest at 0.5%.
‘Filing compliance is very poor, we still have thousands of people who don’t get their tax form in on the due date,’ said Mr Summersgill.
‘Jersey has never charged interest on tax, there is a surcharge if people don’t pay up by a certain date. But we need provision for that [interest being charged on late tax], that may come in next year or the year after.’
He added: ‘At the moment it is often easier to not pay your taxes than take out a bank interest rate loan.’
The efficiencies addition to the Government Plan says that the Treasury intends to bring in an extra £7.35 million a year by increasing tax compliance.
Mr Summersgill said the department uses the ‘promote, prevent, respond’ approach to compliance, focusing on educating people first and proactively trying to encourage good behaviours.
His comments come as the Treasury continue to face criticism for a series of errors and delays following the introduction of a new IT tax system.
