The Guyana Revenue Authority refers to an article captioned “Re-migrant frustrated at sloth of GRA” which appeared in the June 24, 2010 issue of the Kaieteur News.  It is rather unfortunate and indeed a lack of journalistic ethic that the Kaieteur News did not check with the Guyana Revenue Authority and/or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ascertain the facts of the matter. It is, therefore, necessary to set the records straight and once more provide information on the Remigrant Programme offered by the Government of Guyana. The Government of Guyana offers certain tax exemption facilities for persons who are remigrating to Guyana and who have applied for such facilities. The Remigrant Scheme is implemented jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Guyana Revenue Authority.
In order to qualify as a remigrant, the following conditions must be met:

(1) The applicant must have resided legally in a foreign country for at least five consecutive years, and in the case of students at least four consecutive years, prior to the submission of the application.
(2) The applicant must submit the application for remigrant status to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within three months of his return to Guyana.
(3) A Statutory Declaration which must include:
a. A commitment by the applicant to reside in Guyana for at least three years after being granted remigrant status, failing which all exemptions granted become immediately payable.
b. That the items for which exemptions are sought are for the personal and domestic use of the applicant and not for sale or exchange.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is required to ascertain from the application submitted whether the basic requirements at 1 and 2 are met and that the Statutory Declaration is also submitted.  Once these requirements are met, the application is approved for further processing and submitted to the Guyana Revenue Authority. It should be noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not decide what tax exemptions should be granted to the applicant. This is done by the Guyana Revenue Authority within the ambit of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) pertaining to the granting of Tax Exemptions/concession for all categories of beneficiaries including that of the Remigrant.  This information is prominently displayed on the GRA website (gragovgy.com)
Further, being granted re-migrant status by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not automatically qualify a person for tax exemptions. As part of the procedure and condition for tax exemptions, the applicant must present himself to the relevant officers of the GRA for an interview.  It should be noted that if the Guyana Revenue Authority, which has the sole jurisdiction and authority based on the laws and published guidelines it administers, finds that proper justification is lacking and that the request/application cannot be properly substantiated, then the Authority in the interest of protecting the revenues has a right to refuse to grant the tax exemptions.
It is not the practice of the GRA to publicly disclose the outcome of interviews with persons seeking tax exemptions/concessions granted to re-migrants but since in the specific case reported by the Kaieteur News the son of the applicant sought to go public with the outcome of the interview, the GRA has been left no other choice but to respond to the prevarications reported in the Kaieteur News. In the case of the applicant in question, the interview revealed certain discrepancies with the applicant’s information. These are as follows:

1. The applicant who is 74 years old, who never owned any property in the USA, brought in two luxury vehicles (a BMW and a Hummer).  The applicant could not say how much he paid for the vehicles having stated in an affidavit that he bought them. He later revealed that his son bought the vehicles for him.

2. The applicant claimed that he had to return to the USA to continue with his job.  He therefore did not tell the truth in the affidavit in which he said he will reside for at least three years in Guyana. This is a requirement for qualification.

The above admissions disqualified the applicant as a person entitled to tax exemptions/concessions. The Guyana Revenue Authority will not turn a blind eye to such discrepancies.

While persons are encouraged to return home, the GRA would not be a party to encouraging abuse of the system and defraud the state of revenues. Where are the statistics to show that the most expensive vehicles in America are owned by elderly people who do not own their own home?
The GRA is not guided by appearances, but by facts for which is it clear that a scam to defraud the state was in the works. First of all, the father did not buy the vehicles; the son bought them for him. Secondly, by the son’s confession the father does not own a home, he lives with the son. Thirdly, if the father has had enough of living in the USA, why is he, at age seventy-four (74) shipping all his belongings home, but returning to the United States to work? These are the questions the Kaieteur News including their columnist who has to pay his taxes if he wants to replace his vehicle tomorrow, should be asking the re-migrant.
The GRA has a mandate to protect revenues while treating fairly all taxpayers in accordance with the laws it administers.