— Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur
THE GUYANA Revenue Authority has amply surpassed its 2011 collection target of $104B, and Commissioner General, Khurshid Sattaur has ascribed this achievement to improved and modernised systems implemented by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), together with a stable economy. While not at liberty to disclose the final amount netted, Commissioner General, Khurshid Sattaur said in a recent interview that the economic stability of the country was one major factor which contributed to the Authority’s sterling performance.
“We were able to achieve our target notwithstanding many challenges, not least being the fact it was an elections year, which historically shows a dip in the revenue collection,” Sattaur said.
The Revenue collected in 2007 was in excess of $77B; in 2008, it was $79B; and in 2009, it surpassed $89B.
Numerous improved and efficient measures that were put into operation by the agency were also responsible for this success. “Last year (2011) also saw some challenges at the Licence Revenue Office, which the agency was able to overcome during the sale of motor vehicle licences … after implementing changes,” the Commissioner General noted.
The new system is much more efficient and secure, making it impossible for someone to compromise or falsify a motor vehicle licence, he said.

Container scanner
Another accomplishment was the installation of the container scanner, which promptly made inroads into several attempts by persons to traffic illegal substances out of Guyana via containers, Sattaur said.
“We have been able to make the Customs Department far more efficient than it was in the past; and during last year, we had enhanced the operations to the extent where it takes less than three days to have entries processed and declarations (made) for the release of imported goods,” he said.
With these advancements in the system, Sattaur said, Guyana continues to receive good ratings from the international community for meeting international export and import operational standards.

Smuggling
The Commissioner General said the GRA has put in place stringent measures and monitoring operation procedures to safeguard and protect the revenue of the state.
“This has also resulted from improved levels of cooperation from the public in helping the state to collect revenue, which in turn is invested in the state for the betterment of all Guyanese,” he said.

Taxpayers
Over the past two years, there were numerical increases in the categories of taxpayers, including professionals from whom the state was able to collect tax practice fees; individuals from whom personal income taxes were collected; and corporations from which the state was able to collect corporation taxes.
Sattaur said that at the end of last year, the figure for taxpayers had grown from 180,000 to in excess of 212,000, as a result of the sterling work done by every proactive registration and enforcement staff member, “who constantly are in the field ferreting out taxpayers,” he explained.

Receipts
Despite all the reforms in the tax administration system, GRA still depends on the populace to ensure that every citizen pays his/her fair amount of taxes, Sattaur said. He urged the general public not to yield to the temptation being posed to them by businesses not to obtain a receipt for payments they would have made for goods or services purchased.
With a receipt, he said, consumers not only safeguard their interests, but ensure that providers of goods and services are subjected to paying their fair share of taxes to the GRA, thus to bring about greater levels of compliance from non-compliant individuals.

System Integration
The GRA is working toward integrating the various departments — including Value Added Tax (VAT), Customs, Human Services, and Information Technology, among others — at a central location before the first half of this year.
This, the Commissioner General noted, will create greater levels of efficiency, thus saving the public time and money to have their transactions completed. The Authority has already commenced planning to relocate several of its offices into the former CLICO Building on Camp Street.

Future plans
Despite the many changes in the system, the Commissioner General said, the Authority continues to look at other improved and modernized technologies to further better and improve the tax administration system, thus making it easier for the public to transact business in a speedy and efficient manner.
One such change, he said, will be the introduction of an automated system at the Licence Revenue Office for the issuing of vehicle and drivers’ licences.
Another major area that will come on stream, he said, will be the commencement of electronic filing of tax returns. This measure has been in the pipeline for some time, and Sattaur is optimistic it will bring tremendous benefits to the public and the Guyana Revenue Authority. (GINA)