No taxes, no concessions - Finance Minister

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No taxes, no concessions – Finance Minister

Sep 18, 2016 News

The uncontrolled manner in which concessions was granted under the former regime is no more.

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan

According to Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, no individual or company would be granted concessions if it is not in “good standing” with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The Minister made this comment during his press conference on Friday at the Ministry of Finance.
There, Kaieteur News asked the economist to say what policy his government is formulating to prevent the “wild” and “discriminatory” manner in which concessions used to be granted.
The concessions which have been granted under Investment Development Agreements (IDA) have been particularly worrying, he said.
Jordan said, “In our review, it was found that in many cases there were breaches of various kinds of the laws which state how concessions are to be granted and under what conditions.”
The Finance Minister said that he has worked along with GRA, the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) and the Ministry of Business to create a framework that encapsulates what the law says about concessions and the circumstances under which they can be granted.
“So in that sense, it is a most closely watched and examined process. Some persons in the Private Sector complained that there was a sudden slow down. There was, indeed, because of these further measures we had put in place,” the economist said.
“Many of them were caught off guard because the law was changed earlier this year which says that no individual or company seeking a concession from the Government can get it if they are in arrears or if they are not in good standing with GRA.”
The Finance Minister said that even though an IDA may be in place for an investor, it does not in any way mean that they should not file on an annual basis, their income tax return.
He said, “So if you didn’t file then you are not in good standing. Therefore you cannot get any concession.”
The Finance Minister said that during a review of the concessions system, a number of these cases came up where businesses were not in that “kind of good standing.”
He said that it became imperative for them to take the necessary corrective action and place themselves in GRA’s “good graces.”
Jordan said that what was also worrying was the fact that several cases clearly showed that the concessions granted were not even warranted.
The Finance Minister said that while it cannot make the almighty promise that “nothing is escaping the net”, he assured that from now on, there are stricter and tighter controls of concessions.

1 thoughts on “No taxes, no concessions – Finance Minister”

rs dasai September 18, 2016 at 3:12 pm

Min Of Fin.
Great move with the ‘Good Standing’ or no business conducted with the GVT. Please include ‘Good standing’ also as a ‘Company’ .