Dear Editor,
I have stated before in the press and letters to the (Guyana Revenue Authority) GRA, that I believe VAT could be good for Guyana, even though it was rushed, and introduced at a time when Guyana’s economy was just not ready.
VAT brought hardship to my employees, and indeed all workers and all Guyanese. The working class just cannot make it. We saw the tax threshold slightly extended in the last budget but the little gain was taken away with the increase in NIS. It is like giving with the left hand and kicking the worker with the right foot. It saddens my heart that there is little I could do, especially when contracts are acquired by the tendering system, and some people can tender below cost because they are protected, as they claim, and still acquire NIS and GRA compliances.
The problem facing some service suppliers like security services is that some clients refuse to pay VAT, or do not pay on time. We are then faced with the need to pay VAT we have not received. One senior officer of the GRA VAT office told me terminate the client. What I did was submit a list of clients, which includes Governmental locations, which have not paid on time. How on earth can the GRA and yes, the Government, expect us to raise this money to pay the GRA. My suggestion is that the Government takes action against the defaulters. In our case, we wish to comply, but the money just cannot come in time. We wrote and asked for an extension as we were advised we could do by publications in the press, only to be shafted with a 2% interest charge.
I believe those that operate over the counter businesses should pay on time, but service oriented institutions which have to bill and wait for approval for payments, should be given an additional month to collect and remit, and clients who do not pay by then, the GRA need to have them charged, or closed down, not the service provider.
I am calling on President Bharrat Jagdeo to look at this matter. Governmental institutions pay late, always late, very late. At times for months and even years we have outstanding sums due. Private enterprises usually have their bureaucratic procedures to satisfy before cheques are written. If not paid on time, what should we do? Should we borrow money to pay VAT not received at exorbitant rates of interest, and if we cannot pay, run bankrupt and close down and migrate. If Government does not pay on time, how can I.
I do not think the Ministry thoroughly thought out VAT and addressed the concerns adequately. How does the government expect us to pay VAT if clients do not pay on time, despite our calls. Our clients will go to an unrecognised agency which does not charge VAT. We have already lost business this way. My argument is that once a list of the recalcitrant clients is supplied to the GRA, the GRA should go after them, not hound the compliant collector and remitter of the tax. Instead of harassing, and fatiguing us we should be given incentives for compliance.
Yours faithfully,
Roshan Khan, CEO/Founder,
RK’s National Security Network
