Oversight bodies equally accountable for allowing professionals to cheat on taxes – GRA Boss

Apr 07, 2022 News

By Rehanna Ramsay

Kaieteur News – Professional associations are to be seen as equally accountable for the lack of compliance among professionals when it comes to paying their fair due in taxes.
This is according to Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Godfrey Statia. Statia was at the time responding to queries about the ongoing issue of non-compliance with regard to the tax regulations among professionals.

Commissioner General of GRA, Godfrey Statia.

The GRA Commissioner General explained that professional fee amount to a mere $4.6 million annually and that is because oversight bodies like the Bar Association of Guyana, the Medical Council of Guyana, The Institute of Chartered Accountants, Guyana Association of Professional Engineers (GAPE) continue to allow those who fall within their respective fields to practice with impunity.
Statia stated categorically that GRA “does not police the professionals…their professional bodies should.” The Commissioner General explained the [professionals] who don’t take out tax certificates should not be allowed to practice but they are given a free pass.
“We publish the names of those who take out the licences in March of each year. However despite the publication, lawyers’ dentists, pharmacists and doctors still practice. Their professional associations do nothing about it. They practice with impunity. I have spoken out on this on numerous occasions. The GRA should not be the only police in town. Every agency should do their job,” added Statia.
As it stands, the GRA boss noted the authority has its hands tied, since there is nothing much that can be done to remedy the situation. “This matter is closed until we get a department of professional regulation, every profession will continue to flout the law. [For now] GRA ensures that persons that do business with it are in receipt of their licences. That’s all we can do,” Statia said. His comments come almost two weeks after Kaieteur News reported on the dwindling number of professionals who fail to pay their dues in accordance with the tax practice regulation.
In accordance with the first schedule of the Income Tax Act, Chapter 80:01, professionals such as accountants, auditors, legal practitioners, medical practitioners, architects, dentists, optometrists, engineers, veterinary surgeons, physiotherapists, pharmacists, surveyors and preparer of returns are all required to acquire a Tax Practice Certificate from GRA.
Under that section, professionals who practice privately for reward are required by law to be the holder of a Tax Practice Certificate, which is valid for one year commencing January 1 and ending December 31. The tax practice fees are to be paid to the GRA by the end of February every year. However, the Auditor General (AG)’s annual reports from 2017-2020 have recorded dwindling figures for professionals filing for Tax Practice Certificates. According to the report, the GRA continues to experience difficulties in having practicing professionals to comply with Section 37, Chapter 81:01 of the Income Tax Act.
Auditor General (AG), Deodat Sharma, in his 2017 report documented that the total revenue collected from professional fees for the period January to December, amounted to $5.6M or 0.01% of the total revenue collected by Internal Revenue Department in 2016.
The audit report went on to point out that as at 31 December 2017, there were 605 active registered professionals in the database of which only 260 professionals or $43% purchased professional certificates.
“As a result, 345 or 57% of the active professionals had not purchased professional certificates,” the report added.
As for the period January to December 2018, professional fees amounted to $5.121M or 0.01% of the total revenue collected by the Internal Revenue Department when compared to 2017 collections for the same period. In 2019, the total revenue collected from professional fees for the year amounted to $4.911M or 4.47% less of the total revenue collected by Internal Revenue Department for the previous year. At the time of reporting in September 2019, the AG report noted that 170 professionals paid for certificates after the stipulated date.
Similarly, at 31 December 2019, there were 688 active registered professionals in the database of which only 252 professionals or 37% purchased the professional certificates. As a result, 436 or 66% of the active professionals did not purchased professional certificates.
In 2020, the total revenue collected from professional fees for the year amounted to $3.930M, or less than 1% of the total revenue collected by Internal Revenue Department in the previous year. As at 31 December 2020, there were 731 active registered professionals in the database, of which only 291 professionals or 39.81% purchased the professional certificates.
As a result, 441 or 60.33% of the active professionals did not purchase the professional certificates, as compared with 2019, where 436 or 66% of the registered professionals did not purchase professional certificates.