The American Samoa government, Treasurer Magalei Logovii, has lifted an earlier policy prohibiting businesses from using corporate and personal cheques to pay for customs excise tax.
He said this is due to provisions of a bill approved by the Fono last year that went into effect last month that imposes fees and penalties for bounced cheques.
Magalei says the new law provides protective measures for the government when dealing with return cheques and provisions of this law will be fully enforced.
Early last month Magalei allowed only cash, credit or debit cards to pay for excise tax, in an effort to clamp down on bounced cheques as the government tries to collect about $50,000 worth of returned cheques not accepted by the local banks.
