GRA installing rigid systems to keep close watch on ExxonMobil
If the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has difficulty catching regular tax evading citizens and holding them accountable, how will it fare with an experienced oil giant like ExxonMobil?
GRA Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia appears confident that the revenue entity will be more than able to keep track of ExxonMobil. Statia acknowledged that while GRA has encountered issues with hauling in some local tax evaders, he insists that “ExxonMobil is a different kettle of fish.” In this regard, he emphasized that ExxonMobil’s operations will see the oil and gas sector eventually running 50 percent of the economy. Given this significant role the oil and gas sector is expected to play in the country’s economic development and wellbeing, Statia said that rigid systems are being put in place from GRA’s end. This he said, is all to ensure that the nation is not cheated in any way of the taxes that it is entitled to. “If you look at oil it will be 50 percent of the economy. So what we are doing is gearing up ourselves to deal with this. There are a lot of things which are being prepared and trust me; we would be able to monitor ExxonMobil.” Statia noted that GRA is already arming itself with the requisite skills and systems that it would need for the job ahead. He declined to divulge details on the systems being put in place at this time. Nonetheless, the GRA Commissioner General went on to state that GRA would be more than able to handle the influx of invoices to come from ExxonMobil.
He said that those invoices would be in the electronic form and will be a direct feed into GRA’s system. “Additionally, we have established a separate Oil and Gas department that is now being trained to oversee Exxon… So we have actually set that up. So without a doubt, GRA will be ready and it is preparing itself. We are not sitting and waiting.” In terms of the pumping of the oil by ExxonMobil, Statia said that the Government would have to decide how it is going to be monitoring that aspect and who will be doing it. “You have to decide if it is going to be Ministry of Natural Resources or some other unit but it won’t be GRA because we would be looking strictly at the expenditures, the revenue from those expenditures, the profit sharing methods and the royalties and those things.” Statia said that the pumping of the 100,000 barrels of oil by ExxonMobil is a separate issue that the Ministry of Natural Resources has to address soon.
(Kaieteurnews.com)