IMF to have fixed petroleum team at GRA

Jan 27, 2019 News

GRA Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia

A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which specializes in petroleum taxation and audits will be housed at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) for two years. According to GRA’s Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia, the team of analysts gets started on February 1.

He said that the funding for this exercise is made possible through the IMF and the British.
Since its first report to the Government about two years ago, the IMF has said that GRA should be the single revenue collection agency for the petroleum sector. The Fund contends that this is a reasonable decision given the key role played by the PSA and the pay-on-behalf arrangement for corporate income tax in existing contracts (where the contractor’s income tax obligations are settled from the government’s share of the profit oil).
The Fund had also noted that the Petroleum Industry Taxpayer Unit attached to the large taxpayer office in the GRA should be prioritized. It said that this effort is supported by a peripatetic advisor from the US Treasury office of technical assistance.
The Fund said it will be important for this unit to start verifying and undertaking audits of cost incurred during the exploration and development phase, which is getting underway now.
The financial organization also said it would be advantageous to establish close working relations between the GRA and the sector regulators (Ministry of Natural Resources, Guyana Geology and Mining Commission and the prospective Petroleum Commission) to ensure that the limited petroleum sector expertise in government is applied most efficiently. (KIANA WILBURG)

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