The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is calling on the Private Sector Commis-sion (PSC) to condemn the indiscriminate pricing by some businesses, a GRA press release said.
“The GRA has been very vigilant and patient. However, with the persistent violations being reported, it is seriously considering legal recourse,” stated the release yesterday.
According to the GRA, it believes businesses are using this transitional phase of the Value Added Tax (VAT) implementation to “hoodwink ordinary consumers.”
Until the PSC publicly denounces such acts, it is condoning flagrant discrepancies by some prominent businesses, leading to the compromising of state revenues and possible fraudulent activities.
Commissioner-General of the GRA Khurshid Sattaur in the release said that while the GRA applauds the PSC for giving credit to the government, he believes that the PSC should be more actively involved in edifying businesses that are exploiting consumers and support GRA’s efforts.
He said the PSC needs to offer advice and assistance to the business community in effectively administering the VAT rather than being critical of the GRA for its actions in seeking to protect consumers.
The GRA also re-emphasised its welcome of the VAT since this would help significantly in promoting transparency and accountability by both the GRA and the business community.
With such a system in place the GRA would be in a better position to assess a business’ true tax liability, whether income tax or corporation tax, by those presumably filing returns.
Due to persistent complaints, the release stated, the GRA made several attempts to visit some prominent businesses in the Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) and Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica).
However, in every attempt the businesses were closed. Reports indicate that the businesses seem to have been notified of the visits, hence they took what the GRA called “defensive” measures.
Sattaur said he is at present seeking legal opinion on several matters relating to record-keeping and invoicing in particular, and will soon take legal action against businesses that have not made significant efforts to comply with the laws of Guyana.
The GRA also declared that it is working to strengthen its resources at the regional level to ensure compliance with the VAT law as well as consumer protection.
