WITH the first amnesty period drawing to a close on June 30, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) wishes to remind the general public to take advantage of this limited-time offer to settle their taxes.

Tax Amnesty relates to Interest and Penalties for Income, Corporate, Property, Capital Gains and Withholding taxes up to and including the Year of Assessment 2017 (Year of Income 2016).
Principal taxes paid on or before June 30, 2018 will have all interest and penalties waived, while principal taxes paid between July 1, 2018 and September 30, 2018 will enjoy a 50% waiver on interest and penalties.

The categories of taxpayers who can benefit from this period of amnesty are those who are delinquent in the filing and payment; those who filed their tax returns but may have mistakenly underreported or understated their income or overstated deductions or credit; and taxpayers who have deliberately not declared their true income and those who are already subjected to completed audits and a determination was made that the additional taxes owed to the GRA are still outstanding.

Since its announcement in the 2018 National Budget, the GRA has been receiving and reviewing numerous applications for amnesty.

The Authority has noted, however, that some taxpayers are facing setbacks because of employers not providing them with emolument statements for the periods in which tax returns were due or outstanding. Hence, the GRA wishes to urge employers to move with haste to assist taxpayers with such information. The GRA has also observed that some requests are being made for amnesty by taxpayers who have no records of tax returns submitted.

Against this backdrop, the Authority wishes to reiterate that in order to have interest and penalties waived, taxpayers MUST file true and correct returns and pay all principal taxes.
It should be noted that the amnesty does not cover outstanding returns and taxes for the current year (i.e. Year of Assessment 2018).

Taxpayers who also file incorrect returns during the Amnesty period will not benefit and will subsequently be subject to the attendant penalties.