GRA collects $5B from tax amnesty

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has raked in $5B in taxes from the tax amnesty this year, the entity’s Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia said Wednesday.

The amnesty comes to an end in four days. It began in January, giving defaulting citizens an opportunity to file their true and correct returns and pay their principal taxes.

Statia said there will be no extension to the amnesty.

“Those who didn’t pay had their chance to pay.

“Tax amnesties should not be given on a yearly basis; tax amnesties should be given like about once in a generation,” he told reporters at the Regency Hotel in Georgetown Wednesday morning.

He noted that the amnesty was an opportunity to have a waiver on the interest and penalties for filing tax returns and paying the principal tax owed to the GRA.

He said that he was dissatisfied that more persons did not come forward, but that of those who did, paid “sizeable amounts.”

Statia urged citizens to pay their taxes as a matter of patriotism.

“You not paying your taxes mean you are not being patriotic,” he stated.