Student Loan Online Process on the Taxpayer Online Service
SUN INTERVIEW - FIJI REVENUE AND CUSTOMS SERVICE
Recipients of scholarships and loans from the Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Service under the Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Act 2014 (TSLA) will be able to access the student loan services on the Taxpayer Online Service (TPOS). This feature will be rolled out soon.
The student loan facility is an additional layer of online tax services that taxpayers (students) can easily use to access the services provided by the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) at their own convenience.
Government Assistance in the Education Sector
Education is a high priority of Fiji. The Fijian Government, in its efforts to build a knowledge-based society had launched the Tertiary Education Loans Scheme (TELS) in 2014 with a vision of “Building a Smarter Fiji”.
This scheme provides equal opportunity to obtain funding through scholarships and loans for Fijians to access tertiary, technical and vocational education.
This has enabled many Fijian families to send their children to higher education institutions.
A total of 48,312 students have applied and granted approval under the scheme and most of these students have graduated and found employment in their respective fields.
Those that qualify for the scholarship and loan schemes sign a bond agreement.
The bond arrangement includes the details and conditions of the scholarship/loan and the manner in which it is served or repaid.
Recipients of the scholarship schemes are required to serve their bond through employment in Fiji for a designated number of years.
Those that receive assistance through the loans scheme are required to pay back the total loan amount or as computed under the Student Loan Incentive.
Graduated students with employment will have 20 per cent deduction from their income.
Students, who have terminated their scholarships, will need to make arrangements for payments.
Those intending to migrate will need to clear their entire loan or serve their full bond period before clearance is issued to them for migration.
Student Loan Incentive
Students that repay the required amount of loan in a shorter period will qualify for a discount.
In other words, the quicker a student repays his/her loan the greater the discount. This is Fijian Government’s new TELS Accelerated Repayment Incentive (ARI) announced in the 2018/2019 National Budget.
In light of the loan amount and time taken to repay, the following discounts apply:
■Educatio■ and awareness materials on the online processes of the various tax types can be accessed from the FRCS website https://bit.ly/frcstutorials and https://www.frcs.org.fj/ podcast/.
FRCS Role
The introduction of the student loan online facility through the TPOS is intended to provide students with a convenient way to manage their loan or scholarship affairs.
FRCS will assist students by informing them of their rights and obligations.
This will include sending reminder notices and providing information such as student loan statement, student loan calculator etc.
The recovery process for scholarship or loan repayments begins when a student has graduated and started employment.
If a student was terminated from their education program (i.e. not graduated), he/she will have to make arrangement for payment.
Student Loan Services on TPOS
Students can expect the following online services to be available in the coming weeks. These online services are accessible through their own taxpayer portal once they have successfully signed up on TPOS.
The student loan online services include:
Registering for TPOS
All persons intending to use the Taxpayer Online Services needs to sign up for TPOS first.
Information on how to sign up for the TPOS can be acquired through the videos available on https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=3OLHhx-2SpE.
Education and Awareness
FRCS has launched a virtual awareness campaign on the Student Loan process and other online processes.
The awareness sessions are intended to provide students with information on the student loan services available in TPOS.
■Educatio■ and awareness materials on the online processes of the various tax types can be accessed from the FRCS website https://bit.ly/frcstutorials and https://www. frcs.org.fj/podcast/.
■The user manuals are available on https://www.frcs.org.fj/our-services/taxpayeronline-service-tpos/users-guide.
■FRCS encourages all taxpayers to access the online services and to use it for efficient tax services and ease of compliance.
■For any queries or issues related to TPOS, please contact us on 1326 or email tpos@frcs. org.fj or info@frcs.org.fj.
■For more information, please email on info@frcs.org.fj.
maraia.vula@fijisun.com.fj