IRD closes CashWiz over non-compliance

Failure by CashWiz, a local pawn shop, to pay taxes owed to the Government’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD), has resulted in the business being closed down indefinitely.

On Friday, November 22, 2024, the IRD, bolstered by heavily armed members of the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF), swooped down on the business located at the Corner of Long Lane and Sharpe Street, Kingstown.

Up to press time, Comptroller of the IRD, Kelvin Pompey, could not be reached for clarity on the matter, but a source claims that the business owes between EC$500,000 to EC$800,000 in unpaid taxes from as far back as 2021.

The source said the IRD had tried unsuccessfully for several months to have the business comply with its tax obligations, hence the decision to seize the company’s cash and assets, and change the locks on the doors of the business.

CashWiz opened its doors in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in April, 2013 and is said to owe Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE); Value Added Tax (VAT); and Corporate Income Tax.

Four persons are employed by the company which has as its local manager, Brad Leacock.

A sign erected at the entrance of the business says that effective November 22, 2024 CashWiz has been closed by the Comptroller of the IRD due to “non-compliance with tax obligations under the Income Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) Act.”

The sign also reads, “Effective 22nd November 2024, operations of this business without authorization by the Comptroller of Inland Revenue is prohibited until further notice.”

A source close to the company said since its inception here, the company has never held a local bank account. A web search says that as at May, 2023, CashWiz is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Simple Management Holdings Inc., a company registered in the United States of America (USA).

One customer of CashWiz said closure of the business is problematic as it holds items, including jewellery, for persons who borrowed money against those items and were planning to retrieve them.

The customer also noted that the business also does lay-away, and has items on hold that people were planning to give on important occasions like Christmas and birthdays.

This is not the first time the business has been in the news. It has been hit by robberies and burglaries in the past.

On May 9, 2016, armed bandits made off with an undisclosed sum of money (one source said approximately EC$400,000), and jewellery. During the robbery, two males wearing sunglasses and hoodies, and carrying guns, robbed the business taking cash, jewellery, and other items including the security camera.

The then assistant manager, Brad Leacock, who was present at the time of the robbery, was reportedly gun butted by one of the assailants, and sustained head injuries. The manager at the time, Andrew Prince, announced a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the robbers, but no one was ever charged.

In July 2022, then Senior Magistrate, Rickie Burnett, called on the authorities to look into the operations of CashWiz, after Sherma Adams, a 47-year-old Fair Hall/Georgetown woman admitted in court that she had sold $7,805 in stolen jewellery to the business for EC$2,855.

“…from this courtroom, I keep hearing that persons are dispossessing others and they go to Cashwiz and they are purchased, easily, it seems,” Burnett had noted.

CashWiz, located in Sharpe Street, Kingstown, offers an instant cash service by buying and selling retail products.

The local branch is one of a Caribbean-wide service. CashWiz was first established in 2009 in Provincials, Turks and Caicos, and is now active in 18 locations throughout the Caribbean region.

The company boasts that it works in conjunction with the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF).