In keeping with the measures outlined in the 2018 Budget presentation by the Minister of Finance, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has announced that an amnesty relating to interest and penalties for income, corporate, property, capital gains and withholding taxes up to and including the Year of Assessment 2017 (Year of Income 2016) and will be applicable to certain categories of taxpayers.
These are taxpayers who have principal taxes outstanding; non-filers – persons who are delinquent in the filing and payment; those who filed their tax returns, but may have mistakenly underreported or understated their income or overstated deductions or credits; those who have deliberately not declared or underdeclared their true income; and those who are already subjected to completed audits and a determination was made that additional taxes are owed to the GRA and the additional tax is still outstanding.
This means that taxpayers who are delinquent in the filing of their true and correct returns and the payment of their true and correct taxes, will be able to voluntarily make their payments without having to pay the attendant interest and penalties. Principal taxes paid on or before June 30, 2018 will have all interest and penalties waived, while principal taxes paid between July 1, 2018 and September 30, 2018 will have 50 percent of interest and penalties waived.
However, taxpayers filing incorrect returns during the amnesty period will not benefit from the amnesty and will be subject to the attendant penalties. Increased resources will be devoted to enforcement, and all attendant penalties for failure to comply with the tax laws will be applied thereafter. Taxpayers who are willing to make use of this facility can visit the GRA headquarters at 200 – 2 0 1 Camp Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown or calls: 227 – 6060; 227 – 8222 or contact its Debt Management Division, either in writing or in person and request a Statement of the principal tax outstanding.