In keeping with several recent rulings declaring the method used by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to recoup taxes from commercial entities as being correct, the Guyana Court of Appeal on Tuesday ruled that 2J’s General Store remains liable for the more than $9 million in taxes being claimed from it.
And as it had ruled just last week in the case of GRA v Grand Coastal Inn, the court had cause to again state that the procedure used by 2J’s in challenging the taxes to be paid contravessned statutory stipulations.
Allowing the Authority’s appeal against the decision of former acting Chief Justice Ian Chang, who had previously ruled in favour of the general store, the appellate court awarded the GRA costs in the sum of $250,000, which has to be paid by 2J’s.
Among other things, the court also ruled that the store ought to have first availed itself of the statutory procedures contained in the Income Tax Act for challenging its tax liability by the GRA, before going to the court.