Georgetown: The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has its sights set on collecting $135.3 billion in taxes for the 2014 fiscal period, Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur said during a recent press conference.
`The GRA boss said that this year, his staffers will increase their efforts to have tax payers honour their commitments voluntarily.
Among recently introduced innovations, is online banking, which is intended to facilitate payments in a more convenient manner. This new facility has not been utilised as expected thus far by tax payers.
A money transfer facility operated with support from Western Union has had a little more success, Mr. Sattaur stated with 50 persons using this service. Despite these setbacks, Sattaur said the GRA is still persevering with its efforts. Looking forward to the future, the GRA head said that very soon, tax payers will not be required to file returns physically. They will have to utilise the online services as a contract has already been signed to facilitate this feature described by him as a major accomplishment.
He added that no less than 250,000 people would be expected to file their income tax returns, electronically online. Customs declarations will also be done online, he said.
It is estimated that those who are in the wealthiest bracket of society, particularly the self employed, are only paying approximately 25% of what they should actually pay, according to the GRA Commissioner General, and the agency is continuing its efforts to ensure that this.
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