Business

ABR VI Deal Releases HOVENSA From $200 Million Tax Dispute With VI Government

HOVENSA is currently in a dispute with the Virgin Islands Government over a $200 million impasse that the VI Government, after conducting an audit, says HOVENSA owes it; however, if the ABR VI deal is ratified by the Senate and signed into law by Governor de Jongh, the payments would no longer be an obligation of the owners of HOVENSA, but rather ABR VI, as the latter company would assume all the debt as part of the Operating Agreement. Details made available to VI Consortium by Senator Nellie Rivera-O'Reilly, revealed that in 2011 HOVENSA claimed refunds for corporate taxes it paid in prior years to the Government of the Virgin Islands (GVI); however, the Government contested and hired an auditing company to conduct an audit of HOVENSA; and HOVENSA, in turn, hired an auditing company to review the status of GVI. Since then, the two parties have been entangled in a bitter dispute over who owes who. The Government's auditor concluded that HOVENSA owed more than $200 million in...