-orders release of vehicle
A remigrant who was embroiled in a dispute for over a year with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) over his application for a duty-free concession finally got his day in court with the judge ruling in his favour.
At the High Court yesterday, Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George struck down and quashed the requirements imposed by the GRA that a remigrant who had applied for a duty-free concession for his new Toyota Land Cruiser, provide the source of funds for the vehicle’s purchase.
This is according to a release issued on behalf of the remigrant.
According to facts of the matter, Reaz Manjoor re-migrated to Guyana in August, 2023 after residing for over 10 years in the United States of America. After presenting his case to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Minister, Hugh Todd, awarded him remigrant status on August 23, 2023. Head of the GRA, Godfrey Statia, was notified of this by Todd.
Remigrants, after being awarded their remigrant status by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, benefit from preferential tax conditions when they import a vehicle and their other personal effects. A remigrant who imports a vehicle such as the 2023 LC300 Toyota Land Cruiser with an engine size of 3,500cc would only have to pay an excise tax of 30% (approximately $4,300,000). Without the remigrant status, the taxes for the same Land Cruiser would be $43,784,000. Of that amount, $6,627,000 would be customs duties, $29,983,000 excise taxes, and $7,174,000 value-added taxes.
The release said that Manjoor provided the GRA with all of the necessary documents – and more, to enable the GRA to grant his tax exemptions. However, instead of granting those exemptions, the Authority, through its officers, embarked on a campaign of seeking financial information from the remigrant. The remigrant cooperated and provided documentation including affidavits, a letter pleading his case, his online bank information showing the debit and credit of his account with the purchase funds, a copy of the cheque used to purchase the vehicle, the receipt from the auto sales company, the Chase Bank wire transfer instructions from his aunt who provided him with the funds, and other pertinent information.
Pending receipt of the information requested, the GRA suspended all processing of Manjoor’s tax exemptions. Further, nothing was provided in writing to Manjoor of their position until April 30, when Deputy Commis-sioner of the GRA, Gavin Low, wrote to Manjoor stating, “It is the duty of the GRA to verify the legitimacy of any transaction that has tax implications. (…) the GRA is not satisfied that you have displayed credible information regarding your source of funding.”
At this juncture, the release said that Manjoor retained the services of attorney-at-law, Siand Dhurjon, who then wrote GRA on August 8 this year, threatening legal action if the tax exemptions were not issued to Manjoor, and if the vehicle was not cleared or released. The attorney also informed the Authority, that their questioning of the source of funding was illegal and that they could not dis-entitle Manjoor to his tax exemptions.
The GRA failed to respond to counsel’s letter, as well as a subsequent correspondence from counsel by email weeks later. In October, Manjoor through his attorney, instituted proceedings against the GRA over its failure to grant him his tax exemptions and to permit the clearance of his vehicle. Low, in his filed Affidavit in Defence on behalf of the GRA claimed that the person who gave Manjoor the money to purchase the vehicle was unknown to their internal system and that Manjoor had failed to provide her “valid identification.” In his affidavit, he stated that the GRA had to ensure that the money used by Manjoor was not “the proceeds of illegal activities such as money laundering or tax evasion.” Low asserted that the GRA did not deny Manjoor his tax exemption, but was merely waiting until source of funds could be “substantiated.”
However, in rebuttal, Dhurjon submitted to the Court that there was no provision known to law that permitted the GRA to require a remigrant to substantiate their source of funding, and that the information was irrelevant to the administrative process of granting the necessary tax exemptions. He noted that the GRA had already conceded that Manjoor was a qualifying remigrant and that it was not substantially challenging any of the facts asserted by Manjoor.
After weighing the submissions of both sides, the release said that the Chief Justice in her decision, granted all of the orders sought by Dhurjon on behalf of his client. She granted orders declaring that the Landcruiser was the property of Manjoor and that Manjoor was duly deemed a remigrant by Minister Hugh Todd. The Chief Justice also declared that GRA’s requirement through its Deputy Commissioner that Manjoor must provide “credible information regarding his source of funding” was illegal and as such, issued an order of Certiorari to quash this requirement. The Chief Justice commanded by order of Mandamus that the GRA grant Manjoor all applicable tax exemptions as a remigrant and commanded them to clear and release the vehicle after Manjoor had paid the applicable taxes.
Manjoor’s Land Cruiser had come into Guyana since January 18, and has been on the wharf racking up storage costs estimated by Manjoor to be just under $1 million. The release said that the Chief Justice ordered that the GRA pay the storage costs up to the date of the release of the vehicle.
GRA was also ordered pay Manjoor $350,000 in costs before December 31. The judge acknowledged that the costs were high, pointing out, “We have traversed this road before and they [GRA] seem not to understand.”
After the ruling was handed down, counsel for the GRA, Nicklin Belgrave, sought leave to appeal the decision but the release said that the Chief Justice quashed that application, remarking, “I’m not granting leave to appeal. This here is beyond the pale. You have no law, there is no provision!”
