State owes taxpayers $7.6B in VAT refunds
The National Assembly was informed on Friday that the state owes $7.6 billion in Value Added Tax to taxpayers. This was told to the House by the Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo during his presentation on the 2017 budget. He was speaking on the history of VAT in Guyana from 2005 to present. According to Nagamootoo, the tax is owed mainly on items which are zero-rated. He said that this is as a result of administrative bottlenecks stymieing the process to ensure that persons who are owed receive the refund which is due to them.
according to Section 35 (1) Vat act (a) the total amount of the input tax creditable by a taxable person under section 24 for a period exceeds the person’s output tax for that period; or (b) the amount of tax paid by a person, other than in circumstances specified under paragraph (a) was in excess of the amount properly charged to tax under this act, the amount of the excess treated in the manner provided in this section.
In Section 35 (2) of the act it is said that if there is an excess amount owed by the GRa to a taxpayer, that amount will be carried over to the next tax period. However, if any of the excess for a tax period remains after being carried forward and used as input tax creditable in six consecutive tax periods, a taxpayer can file with the Commissioner to claim the refund. last January, Chairman of the Guyana Revenue authority, Rawle lucas, told this publication that the entity is looking to vigorously address the issue of Vat refunds and tax returns.
He said that this issue has played a role in souring the relationship between taxpayers and the tax body. lucas promised at the time that within three months there would have been an improvement in the manner in which persons receive their refunds. according to Nagamootoo, when Vat was first introduced into the local tax regime it was touted by the then People’s Progressive Party Civic government that Vat would have been a more comprehensive system, less complex to enforce and less open to abuse. the Vat Bill was passed in 2005 and was an International Monetary Fund (IMF) ‘recipe’. He said that the total cost to introduce the taxation system was US$7.6 million. Further, Nagamootoo spoke on the amendment to the Vat law as it relates to persons leaving Guyana with tax liabilities. When Minister of Finance Winston Jordan made his presentation of the 2017 Budget, recently, he said that it is proposed to revise the provision of Section 45 of the Vat act by deleting the proviso which allows for a court order to be obtained enforcing the provision. He added that this will be consistent with a similar provision which exists under Section 71 (7) of the Income tax act Chapter 81:01. according to that section, “Where the CommissionerGeneral of GRa is of the opinion that any person is about to or is likely to leave Guyana without making arrangements to the satisfaction of the Commissioner-General when required to do so, for the payment of all income tax that is or may become payable…up to and including the year in which he proposes to leave Guyana, the CommissionerGuyana may issue a direction to the Commissioner of Police or to the Chief Immigration Officer, or both, to prevent such person from leaving without paying the taxes or furnishing security to the satisfaction of the Commissioner General for the payment thereof.”
Nagamootoo said that the option to prevent persons from leaving Guyana for owed taxes was already a part of the law but has been described by the opposition as a violation of the Constitution. He said that all Minister Jordan is doing with the amendment to the Vat act is to bring it in consonance with the Income tax act.
(Kaieteur news)