Chartered accounting firm Ram & McRae yesterday launched the second edition of its Value-Added Tax and Excise Tax Handbook at the Georgetown Club on Camp Street, Georgetown.
Over 40 persons gathered for the launch, which was spearheaded by Managing Partner Christopher Ram and a team.
Susan Rodrigues, Legal Services Director at Ram & McRae, explained that the new handbook was conceptualised due to the new tax measures that were announced in the 2017 national budget. The new budget measures, she said, resulted in the firm being inundated with calls, emails and letters from clients and potential clients asking for advice on the impact and changes that should be implemented in their businesses. “We have the solution with our handbook,” she said, while noting that the first edition of the book was published in 2006.
CEO of the firm Rakesh Latchana related that the discussion for the book was held on December 22, 2016 and the final draft was delivered to the printers on January 18, 2017.
Ram also related that since there were major changes, the company felt that they needed to identify them.
According to a statement issued by Ram & McRae, the handbook is a 300+ page publication containing twelve chapters of explanation and elucidation of the laws and easy to understand examples and illustrations of their application.
It said the handbook also contains the up-to-date VAT Act and Excise Tax Act, along with the VAT Regulations and the Schedules of Zero-rated and Exempt Supplies. The Acts are also annotated and include cross-references to the text of the chapters.
In its overview of the handbook, Ram & McRae has said the document will “attempt to clarify what the VAT system is about and how it works. It will address too… the scope and power of the Minister of Finance, the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Commissioner General for the administration of the Act; the obligations of the taxpayer; offences and penalties, and the different recourses available to an aggrieved taxpayer.”
It added that its objective in presenting the handbook is to be a “neutral and independent party rather than as a professional firm advising a client. The cases we have cited have value for the professional, the administrator as well as the taxpayer and businessperson who may err for want of knowledge of the law and its application.”
The handbook said that VAT is being substantially reformed this year as a result of the budget announcements with a reversal of the zero rate on basic food items and other goods and services which were introduced on social grounds. “It is not without some interest that the situation is almost where it was when VAT was first introduced – very little by way of zero-rated items,” it noted.
The cost of the handbook is $30,000 per copy.
