GRA nets over $44B from auditing large taxpayers in a four-year period

Apr 21, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Following a series of audits conducted between 2017 and 2020, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has been able to net over $44 billion from the auditing of its Large Taxpayers Division (LTD). Kaieteur News understands that the audits, which commenced in October 2017 saw the closure of 41 cases on average per year.
In terms of revenue recovered, GRA said this totalled $4.6 billion in 2017, $26.9 billion in 2018, $8.2 billion in 2019 and $3.2 billion for the January-May 2020 period. The division had also commenced processing Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds in 2018 and following an audit, was able to recover approximately $1.6 billion to date.
GRA, Kaieteur News understands, sees this as a major accomplishment since the creation of the LTD in February 2017. According to GRA’s records, the LTD was created as part of its Tax Reform Strategy and in keeping with measures set out in the National Budget for the fiscal year 2017. The former coalition government, with technical assistance from the International Monetary Fund-Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (IMF- CARTAC) was able to have the unit up and running in no time.
Furthermore, this news agency understands that all approved insurance companies, all banking institutions, all telecommunications companies, oil and gas conglomerates with a turnover exceeding $1 billion are considered large taxpayers.
The LTD currently has responsibility for most of the major tax administration functions of 244 of the largest taxpayers in Guyana. The division functions as a single window for Account Management, Audit and Investigation and Programme Planning, Risk Management and Advisory matters relating to the large taxpayer segment.
Headed by Sharon Carrington, Deputy Commissioner of Inland Revenue (Ag), the division has an established complement of 42 staff members, including three Assistant Commissioners responsible for the three Units therein.
GRA said this move was necessary since, under its previous operating framework, there was limited focus on the large taxpayer segment. Additionally, the compliance risk management related to the registration, filing, payment and reporting of the segment was fragmented and ineffective.
The authority said that its new holistic risk based approach will not only ensure quality treatment strategies for the large taxpayer segment by ensuring that all relevant facts and data are factored into risk assessment and treatment decisions – it will ultimately improve voluntary compliance.

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