The Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands wishes to advise the public and the trading community of targeted measures being implemented to strengthen fiscal compliance while maintaining the efficient movement of legitimate trade across the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The Government remains committed to ensuring that import processes operate transparently, fairly, and in accordance with established law, while safeguarding the continuity of commerce and the availability of goods throughout the Islands. These measures form part of the Government’s wider compliance initiative, including Operation Dragnet, which seeks to recover outstanding public revenues and strengthen accountability within the import system.
Since 2024, Border Force Compliance Unit has undertaken extensive engagement with account holders to regularise outstanding obligations. These efforts have included direct meetings with importers, training sessions on declaration requirements, periodic compliance notices, numerous extended deadlines, and structured compliance plans designed to help businesses bring their accounts into good standing. These collaborative efforts have yielded significant results, with $17.4 million recovered between the period January 2024 and December 2025 from historical outstanding bills of lading, unpaid cash entries, and unresolved proper declarations linked to pre-entry submissions dating back to 2020.
Additionally, and as a part of the Government’s wider push for greater compliance and efficiency through electronic systems, the Border Force is nearing completion of the procurement exercise for a comprehensive upgrade to the ASYCUDA Entry Clearance System and Tariff Codes. The latest version of this software will deliver vast improvements, not only to the stability of the current platform and convenience to the end-user, but further, will improve compliance and provide mechanisms for early detection of risks in order to mitigate against potential revenue leakages.
Despite these sustained efforts, a number of accounts remain non-compliant. In many instances, the outstanding obligations relate to goods that have already been delivered to importers or end users, including shipments handled by courier services, where the applicable duties and taxes were collected from customers by the account holder but remain unpaid to the Government.
To address this remaining gap while minimising disruption to trade, on March 4th, the Border Force suspended the credit facilities of specific account holders where outstanding bills of lading, incomplete perfect declarations related to pre-entry submissions, unresolved subsequent entries, or unpaid cash declarations exist, thereby placing them on a cash-basis only for current imports, while we continue to work with them to clear their arrears. Account holders that are compliant and up to date with their declarations and payments are not affected by these measures and will continue to receive normal cargo clearance services.
While the Government continues to strengthen its compliance measures, we also understand and appreciate the need to facilitate the trade and imports. Towards this end, to support business continuity during this period, Border Force has continued to release cargo on a cash basis. This means that importers with outstanding obligations, while unable to access their credit facilities, may submit a declaration for all or part of their shipments and pay the applicable duties and taxes for the goods to be released. Additionally, priority clearance is also being given to medications, frozen goods, perishables, and other essential supplies to ensure minimal disruption to the public and the wider economy.
The public may experience temporary delays in the clearance of certain goods while affected importers are on a cash basis. The Government asks for the understanding and cooperation of the community during this period as the Border Force works to ensure that all import processes operate fairly, transparently, and in accordance with the law.
The Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands assures the public that there is no freeze on current imports. The cooperation of the trading community and the public are appreciated as we seek to recover public revenue while maintaining an efficient and reliable import environment. These actions reinforce the Government’s mission through the Border Force to safeguard our borders and protect the nation’s prosperity, while continuing to facilitate legitimate trade and strengthen fiscal accountability.”
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