Ad interim Minister of Justice and Security Marinus Bee presented landmark progress updates on Suriname’s tax dispute resolution system during a parliamentary session of De Nationale Assemblee (DNA) on a recent Friday, as lawmakers reviewed draft legislation to establish a fully independent tax judicial framework. Official government data confirms that the national tax authority, the Belastingdienst, has slashed its backlog of unresolved taxpayer appeal submissions from a peak of 42,213 open cases in 2022 to just 2,338 active pending claims as of November 1 this year, marking a 94% reduction in unprocessed appeals over the three-year period. Minister Bee further outlined incremental progress milestones: the backlog had already dropped to 17,234 cases by the end of 2024, with targeted operational drives in 2025 and 2026 accelerating case resolutions to clear the vast majority of historic claims. The administration has set an explicit target to bring the remaining backlog below 1,000 cases by the end of November 2026, to prevent the newly proposed independent tax court system from being immediately overwhelmed by decades-old unresolved disputes when it launches. Bee clarified that of the current 2,338 pending cases, roughly 2,300 are still under active review by tax inspectors and will not automatically be transferred to the new judicial system once it is operational, while only 80 to 100 cases that have already received formal appeal rulings may be eligible for direct submission to the new specialized tax judges. Preparations for the rollout of the independent tax judiciary are already well underway, the minister confirmed. Judicial training programs have been rolled out in stages across recent years: a 2023 October training cohort included 20 judicial system staff focused on formal and substantive tax law, followed by a second training session across April and May 2025 that hosted 19 participants. The government projects that the new system will operate with 2 to 3 first-instance tax judges and 3 appellate judges in its first full year of operation. Parallel digital infrastructure development is also in progress, including a dedicated digital tax filing portal and a digital tax court records office, scheduled to go live in January or February 2027 to streamline the submission and processing of appeal documentation for faster case turnaround. Initially, all tax dispute hearings will be hosted in the capital city of Paramaribo, with plans for gradual expansion to regional districts to be drafted in subsequent phases. The proposed Wet Rechtspraak Belastingzaken (Tax Judiciary Act) is designed to grant private citizens and local businesses formal access to specialized independent judicial review of unfavorable tax authority decisions, following the completion of internal administrative appeal processes, with provisions for appeals of lower court rulings to the national Court of Justice. Minister Bee emphasized that the legislation is not structured to guarantee additional government tax revenue, as presiding judges hold full authority to uphold, reduce, or fully annul contested tax assessments, including ordering financial refunds to eligible taxpayers where justified. The administration frames the new judicial pathway as a critical upgrade to legal protections for residents and businesses against arbitrary actions by the national tax authority. Parliamentary debate on the draft bill is scheduled to resume the following week.