Minister of Finance Winston Jordan yesterday said that Smart City Solutions (SCS) made a mistake by charging VAT on parking meter cards instead of at the parking meter itself.
According to the Minister, VAT should be charged on the service and not the card.
“That is an error on the part of the SCS. It is incorrect, the VAT is only supposed to go on the parking itself. Treat it the same way as how you treat the telephone cards. You buy telephone card and the VAT is on the telephone service itself,” Jordan explained noting that he will issue an advisory to SCS to have the matter resolved.
Jordan was speaking in Parliament in response to a query which had been raised by Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira.
Asked to respond to Jordan’s comments, SCS Public Relations Consultant Kit Nascimento said SCS would welcome any clarification from the minister on the matter as attempts by the company to seek clarity on the issue had met with mixed responses.
“We have been receiving conflicting reports so we are not sure how to apply VAT. We attempted to meet with the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and were unable to do so. We met with our auditors who advised that we make the cost of the cards VAT inclusive and met with GRA officers [yesterday] who also advised the same. So we welcome any clarification,” he told Stabroek News.
Nascimento also noted that SCS has been attempting to meet with the authorities to present a petition to have metered parking be declared a VAT-free service.
Members of the public had raised concerns that VAT was being charged twice – when the card is purchased and at the parking meter. However, SCS has explained that VAT is only being charged once: when the card is purchased. It has said that consumers would see from the balance left on the parking meters that VAT was not being charged there.
