-grace period for motor vehicle licences ends June 22
THE Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) will be extending its office hours at the Licence Revenue Office (LRO) temporarily from Tuesday, April 14, 2009 to facilitate persons purchasing motor vehicle licences.

According to a GRA release Head of the Tax Operations and Services Department Ms Hema Khan said this is one of several measures being undertaken to minimise the inconvenience to taxpayers and to speed up and improve the processing of Motor Vehicle Licenses.

She said that for weekdays the office will open from 7 am and close at 5.30 pm, while on Saturdays it will be open from 9 am to 2 pm, and on Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm.

Ms Khan said that there have been a number of criticisms levelled at the GRA since the commencement of the sale of Motor Vehicle Licences at the License Revenue Office and pointed out that while it may not be evident; the GRA is continuously monitoring the situation.

She said that contrary to what is reported in the media with regard to taxpayers standing in the wrong line, staff is monitoring persons who enter the LRO compound to give them direction to the appropriate queue.

To further save time, improve compliance and contribute to a flawless process, Ms Khan said the Communication and Tax Advisory Services Division will be producing a special leaflet on Motor Vehicle Registration, showing documents required and explaining the process when purchasing a motor vehicle licence. The leaflet will be distributed by the Security Guard at the gate.

She said the LRO has to process approximately 10,000 transactions for each series of licence as far back as the “EE” series with in excess of 80,000 vehicles in the system.

The staff complement at the LRO has been increased to accelerate the updating of the new computerised system and reduce the number of persons having to return to uplift licences.

Ms Khan reiterated that the three-month grace period is in effect and persons purchasing motor vehicle licence have until June 22, 2009 to acquire same, hence there is no need for persons to be anxious and rush all at once.

“We understand that the Traffic Police are demanding persons buy their Motor Vehicle Licences immediately when they stop them, but we have discussed the issue with the Traffic Chief to ensure that the Traffic Police allow persons the grace period”, Ms Khan said.

The GRA is also requesting that owners of vehicles registered in ‘G’ come in on Sundays to process their registrations to reduce delays during the week because of the inspections to be carried out.

The new computerised motor vehicle licence was introduced on March 23, 2009