Govt. must adjust this amnesty

Dec 01, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
The budget speech announcement that the government will be granting amnesty for late filing of Tax Returns, is very good news for thousands of people.
However, my understanding is that this amnesty will be for Tax Returns filed after January 2018 (and not for those late filing currently in the system).
I would like to respectfully petition the Government / Parliament to adjust this amnesty to include Individuals who filed returns late and received demand letters from GRA (to pay astronomical amounts in late filing penalty / interest).
My humble suggestion is that the government put a waiver on all outstanding interest / late filing penalty for all Individual taxpayers who are currently in GRA system (that would have filed Returns late – whether the returns were filed 200 or 600 days late should not matter).
Why I’m making this suggestion, is because I am aware of many struggling small business persons who over the last two years decided to put their house in order, and submit outstanding Income Tax returns (sometimes eight years Returns), expecting that they will now be treated fairly and have a good chance of securing government tenders.
There are cases where they borrow money to pay the outstanding taxes. Lo and behold months later GRA sent letters demanding very large amounts in late filing penalty and interest. Since it’s the same set of people (from 25 years ago that continue to get the bids / contracts) where are long suffering, neglected people going to get money from to pay these interest charges.
I beg this government to listen to the cries of ordinary Guyanese.
Thank you.
Trevor Charles

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