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Professionals must have practice certificates to operate – says GRA

Feb 16, 2010 News

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) yesterday threatened to take legal actions against professionals, including lawyers and doctors, who operate without their practice certificates.
According to GRA, in Category A- Accountants, Auditors, Legal Practitioners, Medical Practitioners, Architects, Dentists and Optometrists must pay $250,000 for the practice certificate; Category B- Engineers and Veterinary Surgeon – $150,000; Category C- Physiotherapists, Pharmacists and Surveyors – a sum of $75,000 is required.
“Professionals who qualified within three years preceding the date of the application for the practice certificate are permitted to pay $25,000 and shall thereafter be liable to pay the full prescribed fee. All conditions must be satisfied before the certificate is issued by the GRA,” Sattaur said in the statement.
A Tax Practice Certificate is valid for one calendar year and is renewable annually. All applicants must uplift and complete an application form from the Compliance Section, Tax Operations and Services Department, G.P.O Building or any Regional Branch Office.
“The person must state therein his/her experience, the nature of his/her practice, the place of practice and provide copies of their certificates as proof of qualification to practice the profession.”
“Applicants are advised that all (tax) returns which are due up to the date of application for the certificate must be delivered to the Commissioner-General along with all relevant taxes due and payable by this category of taxpayer,” a statement from Commissioner-General, Khurshid Sattaur, said yesterday.
The First Schedule of the Tax Act Chapter 80: 01 categorises professional groupings and charge professional fees based on this. Professionals are also required to have a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and should submit all outstanding returns in accordance with Section 60 of the Income Tax Act, and pay taxes due including advance taxes and the requisite professional fee, before the application is processed, GRA said.
“A copy of the professional fee receipt must also be attached to the application form. The Commissioner-General intends to take legal action against all defaulters who do not comply.”
Last year, lawyers had expressed concerns over a proposed Parliamentary Bill that can prevent them from practising unless their taxes are up-to-date.
It is a second time in six years that the issue had come up and lawyers are up in arms over it. In December, attorney-at-law Basil Williams, at a press conference, said that the Bill was introduced “surreptitiously” to Parliament without any consultations with lawyers, although a court case filed in 2003 over the same issue is still pending.
Williams disagreed with the proposed amendment to law which gives the Commissioner General of the GRA the authority to withhold a Practice Certificate if he/she is not satisfied with a particular tax return.
According to the specific amendment which the lawyer said is “hidden away” in the last part of the bill, “an attorney-at-law shall not practise as an attorney-at-law unless he has been issued a practice certificate by the Commissioner General (Guyana Revenue Authority) in accordance with the provisions of Section 39 of the Tax Act.”
This was done without any consultations with the (Guyana) Bar Association and the Guyana Women’s Lawyer Association, Williams said.
“In other words, lawyers have not had an opportunity to consult as a body on the contents of this Bill.”
Williams was convinced that the “Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2009” is intended to be used by Government as a repressive instrument.
“Upon a proper apprehension of its clauses, it is clear that it is intended to be used by Government as a repressive instrument to target and stifle the voices of lawyers who confront and expose the lawlessness of this government.”

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