Consumers nationwide can expect to see authorities responsible for the assessing and monitoring of prices of goods on their toes doing their duty, following the June 1st imposition of the zero- rated Goods and Services Tax (GST) policy on thirteen essential items by the National Government. This is because the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) and the Independent Consumer and Competitions Commission (ICCC) are now working together on monitoring and enforcing it after the two state entities recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on ‘Information Sharing’. According to the IRC Commissioner General Mr. Sam Koim, from the tax perspective, the retail sector has been challenging to administer and manage resulting in the IRC’s inability to correctly audit, assess and penalize non-compliant taxpayers. This has resulted in a reduction and loss in the overall tax revenue, a drop-in tax compliance, a non-disclosure of revenue specifically and directly affecting GST with added costs passed on to the ultimate consumers. But now, with the inclusion of the ICCC and Customs, a more collaborative approach will be employed to hold non-compliant taxpayers accountable with punitive administrative penalties and prosecutions. “The GST zero rated measure will be applied at 0% on the 13 essential items, where no GST will be added either at the point of import or sale. As such, retailers are cautioned of any behavior that may result in price manipulation for an unfair gain,” he stated. Whilst this measure may seem little, Mr. Koim said it should be appreciated as it opens the fiscal space for future reliefs. “Strict compliance of this measure will be required by all registered suppliers, retailers and traders during the implementation phase.” The ICCC on the other hand welcomed this collaboration for the reasons that the MOU shall assist the ICCC to be cognizant of the tax compliant status of entities they regulate to encourage price control and competition. This shall assist in applying the correct penalties as well as prevent any future non-compliance behavior. Mr. Koim further stated that the strict monitoring and enforcement will commence immediately, and retailers found in breach of the changes in law will be severely dealt with through the imposition of the following measures. 1. Administrative penalties for non-compliance; and 2. Recovery of amounts wrongly collected; and 3. Suspension and cancellation of GST registration; and 4. Prosecution under section 95 (1) (f) (i) (ii) (iii) (4) (a) (b)of the Goods and Services Tax Act 2003. Meanwhile, this MOU paves the way for the two State agencies to share vital information to enforce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Zero- Rated Basket of Goods Initiative that came into force on 01 June 2025. This is the first set of tax reliefs the IRC will implement to reflect the government’s efforts to provide some form of relief for taxpayers. The Commissioner General, Mr. Koim strongly emphasized the need for complete compliance to see the success of this measure and for a possible extension after the legislated 12-month period.