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Previous Govt. waived US$303M on vehicles, other items in 2014
– Auditor General report
The 2014 report of the Auditor General has finally been released and its findings are raising shocking questions over the amount of money the previous Government was waiving on vehicle duties.
GRA’s head,
Khurshid Sattaur
Last year alone, the report said, a whopping $63.2B was granted, as compared to the $55.5B for the previous year.
The figures would speak volumes when it is taken into account that the country’s total budget for last year was $221B. In 2013, the National Budget was $208B.
It is the first time that Guyana is learning about an area that had remained a closely guarded secret under the previous government.
The biggest group to benefit was the companies or businesses. Some $41.5B in duties was waived last year. In 2013, it was $34B.
The report did not go into details as to which businesses and organizations benefited.
Ministries and government departments were the next biggest beneficiaries, receiving $4.4B.
Just over $1.7B was exempted based on applications from remigrants while churches and charitable organizations received almost $1.68B.
Other categories which received tax exemptions were diplomats, public and contracted officers and foreign funded projects.
Duty free concessions have been a hot-button topic within recent years with the former Opposition accusing the previous government under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) of mismanaging it. There were reports that persons living overseas were abusing the concessions by claiming they were coming back to live but really had either sold the vehicle to family or friends or independent auto dealers. With millions of dollars saved on every vehicle granted duty free concessions, there were huge profits to be made.
Still, there were foreign investors who also reportedly benefited from large amounts of duties waived.
Former Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh
The former Opposition had been questioning the assessment systems in place to gauge the benefit of the country from waived duties. There has not been any clear answer coming from the previous administration.
What is known is that the Guyana Revenue Authority was tasked with the final release of the vehicles and items when tax exemptions are granted.
According to the Auditor General’s report, a special investigation was conducted into allegations involving tax exemptions granted on luxury vehicles to remigrants between 2008 and 2013. “Investigations revealed that fifteen remigrants apparently submitted fictitious documents for the importation of luxury vehicles, and also breached the conditions under which the relevant tax exemptions were granted.”
A preliminary report was issued to the Board of Directors of GRA with recommendations for appropriate disciplinary action against culpable officers, as well as taking action to recover taxes. According to State auditors, at the time of reporting, the position remained the same.
GRA was slammed for not keeping a Remissions Register to record the amounts granted during the year. Heading the GRA is Commissioner-General, Khurshid Sattaur.
The Minister of Finance last year was Dr. Ashni Singh.
“Despite repeated verbal and written requests, the administration presented only 100 exemption files for audit examination from a sample of 126 files requested. It should be noted that seventy-four of the files were only submitted on 18 September 2015. As a result, the scope of the audit was restricted due to the non- submission of all the files.”
The concessions granted last year as compared to the previous year.
GRA, in its response to the State auditor’s note, claimed that all of its information is stored in its Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS) network and reports can be generated by the Information Technology Division for specific purposes.
“It was never a requirement to maintain a manual register. The CG Number has certain codes that allow Information Technology to generate reports if required.”
However, the Audit report insisted that GRA must take immediate steps to introduce a Remission Register and to put systems in place to ensure that there is adequate accountability for tax exemption files so that these are produced for audit in a timely manner.
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