U.S. pushing to remove double tax on American firms operating in Guyana - U.S. Ambassador

U.S. pushing to remove double tax on American firms operating in Guyana – U.S. Ambassador

Mar 31, 2026 News

(Kaieteur News) – The United States Embassy in Guyana is working to eliminate double taxation for American companies operating here. This is according to U.S. Ambassador, Nicole Theriot.

Speaking on NewsSource interview programme- SOURCES with journalist Svetlana Marshall, the Ambassador disclosed that one of the complaints the embassy receives from American companies operating in Guyana is having to pay taxes twice – once in Guyana and then in the Unites States.

U.S. pushing to remove double tax on American firms operating in Guyana

United States Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot

“We do not have a bilateral tax treaty. That is something that my office, my embassy here, has been working very closely with Washington on. We’re trying to convince them that this would be useful. Because, you know obviously, if you’re a U.S. company, you don’t want to have to pay taxes both in Guyana and in the United States. That’s patently unfair,” she said.

Theriot outlined that American companies are expanding rapidly across several sectors in Guyana but noted that the absence of a bilateral tax treaty with Guyana is a key concern for investors.

“So we have some major U.S. companies who are now engaged in Guyana in the construction infrastructure sector, in the agriculture sector. There is a U.S. company that recently signed a contract to come here and build a data center. So you name it, U.S. companies are interested in it here in Guyana,” she explained.

The American envoy further noted, “In all honesty, yes. Every country has issues of this nature. And because Guyana has recently become a popular destination for U.S. investment, I think that it’s natural that there will be areas where they need to revisit. Guyana needs to revisit its laws and regulations.”

Guyana currently has double taxation agreements with Canada, the United Kingdom, CARICOM and the United Arab Emirates, but not with the United States. Instead, the two countries have a Tax Information Exchange Agreement, which allows for the sharing of financial information but does not address double taxation.

In an invited comment, local accountant Christopher Ram explained that such agreements are designed to prevent the same income from being taxed twice, while maintaining the principle that taxes should be paid where income is earned.

“If they succeed in getting a treaty, then it will be taxed in Guyana but not in America. Similarly, if our business people go and America, Canada, and we earn income, we pay income there,” he said.

Ram added that while a treaty could bring benefits, particularly for cross-border investment, the terms would need to be carefully structured to avoid disadvantaging Guyana. “So it can also work to our advantage, but the conditions must be good. The old-fashioned double taxation treaty is a danger to countries like ours. There was a recent case where Trinidad lost big time, because of a backward double taxation treaty,” he added.

However, he noted, “Any suggestion by any American official that income earned in Guyana by an American company should not be taxed in Guyana must be totally rejected.”

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American firms, double tax, Nicole Theriot, U.S Ambassador, United States Embassy

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