The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has called on the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry to join it in condemning members of the business community who habitually induce GRA staff to take bribes.
In a press release, GRA Commissioner-General Khurshid Sattaur said the Authority made this appeal to PSC Chairman Ron Webster, immediate past president Ramesh Dookhoo and GCCI’s Clinton Urling at a recent meeting.
He reiterated that the GRA will not condone corrupt individuals whether officials or taxpayers and will take steps to weed them out.
Webster said the PSC must strongly condemn members of the private sector who induce GRA staff to engage in corrupt practices since both agencies share equal blame when such incidents occur. He then called for urgent steps to be taken to address delays that are currently being experienced in the clearance of goods due to the higher degree of scrutiny that has to be exercised over the processing of transactions.
The GRA press release was issued in response to a September 30 Kaieteur News story titled ‘GGMC approves 75 duty free concessions for ATVs, GRA record show over 500’. The GRA said that the report is “totally inaccurate and devoid of any credibility.” The agency further slammed the claims contained therein that it processed 425 illegal transactions; stating that while 500 ATVs may have been imported, most were fully exempt from paying duties and taxes as they were imported for large scale mining operations under various Investment Development Agreements (IDAs).
There are three categories of miners: large, medium and small scale and persons conducting large-scale mining (gold, diamond, bauxite or other) under an IDA can import any number of ATVs for use in their operations once it has been stated in the agreement and approved by the Guyana Government. Therefore, there would be no need to obtain recommendation from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commis-sion (GGMC).
On the other hand, ATVs imported by medium and small-scale miners are partially exempt and they are required to pay 30% Excise Tax.
In these cases, the GRA relies on letters of recommendation which must be issued by the GGMC and processed through the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment for approval. The GRA then uses these letters to process tax exemptions, the release stated.
