With greater efficiency…
-Sattaur
GUYANA Revenue Authority (GRA) is likely to surpass $100 billion collection for 2010, as it continues to make improvements in its systems and enhance efficiency, Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur said yesterday. Speaking to the media, he said GRA has set an extremely high target for 2011 and it intends to exceed that, as well.
“Next year (2011), I will be going after a higher target than I have achieved this year,” Mr. Sattaur indicated.
He said GRA will be engaging taxpayers in order to pass the target, like it has been doing over the past years.
Sattaur, also yesterday, inaugurated a system to introduce more transparency at the Customs Department, through the installation of television monitors with information on the status of related documentation.
The introduction was done at John Fernandes Wharf but will be in operation at other locations, too.
Sattaur said:“I also took the initiative, today, of going around to the various GRA locations which, are, unfortunately, housed at different places.”
He explained that it is unfortunate, because, for the GRA to operate strategically and in an effective manner, it has been challenging and hindered the agency from delivering quality service to the taxpaying public.
Sattaur said, that has added implications for cost.
He said he met with members of staff and expressed his heartfelt appreciation for their hard work over the years and, this year, in particular.
Sattaur said, for 2010, GRA was set an extremely high target of $94 billion. And, in keeping with what occurs when you have a high target, you are likely to have an even higher target than the preceding one.
“I am not in a position to disclose what our collection target is or what our achievement has been. Suffice to say that I will be going after a much higher target than achieved in 2010,” he offered.

Main people
“That is why I feel I have a responsibility to ensure that my resources are capable of engaging the public who are the main people in helping me to make the target. They are the taxpayers of the country.
“I cannot meet with them but, through this medium, I can tell them how thankful I am for their support they have given me for 2010, for those who have done so and for those who have seen the benefits of doing so without being goaded by the GRA,” Sattaur said.
He pointed out that, although GRA has been doing well over the years, the year that it has done extremely well was in 2007, when the Value Added Tax (VAT) was introduced. 
“Since then, the VAT contribution and that of other taxes have been steadily rising, mainly because the economy has been doing well and because of our system of collection improving year after year. I want to give tribute to the excellent work that the government has been doing by putting the necessary improvements in place for the economy to perform so that we, the GRA, can harness that revenue and we have been doing so,” Sattaur said.
He continued: “We have also been engaging in activities which can be considered to be policing of the legislation. We call it enforcement activities. Little is it known that we conduct audits of taxpayer records for the purpose of verifying the accuracy of the returns that are filed.
“This year, we raked in more than $900M in revenue, from carrying out well in excess of 75 audits,” Sattaur disclosed, adding that not much publicity is given to this aspect of GRA’s work, in which more than 50 tax officers are engaged.
He said much of the time, the general public falls short of filing accurate returns to the GRA and this can lead to the returns being subjected to audits.

Good work
“Another area where we need to sound our praises for the good work is the law enforcement. This is an area where we go after persons who either smuggle goods across the border or attempt to evade taxes after the goods are legally imported. These activities continue to bring about a high level of success for the GRA,” Sattaur informed.
He revealed that well over 175 investigations were conducted during the year, for which GRA was able to accumulate $45M in revenue.
“All of these types of activities have impacted favourably in the results of GRA revenue collection and in other areas like return filing. We have had an increase, in excess of 30 per cent, in returns filing, mainly because of improvements in enforcement activities and carrying out audits, and because of the higher level of efficiency brought about with the introduction of the Total Revenue Integration Processing Systems (TRIPS),” Sattaur said.
He said, while GRA is not, necessarily, proud of these figures, the agency is “getting there.”
Sattaur admitted that the figures do not reflect optimum levels of compliance, as there are still a large number of taxpayers who do not honour their obligations “as they ought to.”