And the threshold for VAT is $10Mn, which the internet café will never claim to make.

come on man give us a break!!!

1. you calculate your income and you pay income taxes on that calculated
income. OK?

2. as a supplier or a provider of goods and services, you have to charge VAT
at 16% as an agent of the Government. That VAT is government money and
you the supplier or provider hold that VAT as a trustee. That VAT you have to
remit to the government irrespective of whether you have a profit or loss in
your business operations.

3. taxes and VAT are totally different, and that is why I have said that the GRA
should send out its auditors to analyse income calculations and determine
the VAT payable. Issuing threats is a form of dictatorship.

4. Clear?

It goes to show that our autocratic government have a very thwarted agenda to oppress the people of our country by telling us what prices we must pay. I believe it is customary that a democracy imposes price control to lower prices but since The average man must pay their prices and must be forced to resell at their prices, we have empowered a government that works against us.

Still I believe that the majority of us have not got the big picture where we are forced to do things in an anti-competitive way that is negative for our personal economic development.

The other issue is that The Government is forcing the GRA to sanction the Internet Cafes for using features to allow cheap and affordable calls to the public. Imagine a case where internet Cafes are able to offer oversea calls at G$20 and in some cases G$10 per minute which works out to US$0.10 and US$0.05 per minute contrasted to a cost of $35 per minute to the United States using our local land line services. Rates to the Caribbean are exasperatingly higher.

I find it counter democratic that they went even further make a ridiculous move in the month of December to block all the Yap Jacks from dialing through their lines. Their argument was that “These individuals and businesses have essentially created illegal telecommunications networks that employ authorized VSAT equipment for unlawful purposes or VSAT equipment without the requisite licenses, SIM banks, broadband, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and international Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) providers like Vonage, Skype, and Packet 8 to offer outbound and inbound voice calls to the public for a fee. These operations are illegitimate and essentially result in tax evasion since no revenue is paid on these calls,” the GRA had declared.
http://www.stabroeknews.com/news/go-after-internet-cafes-cabinet-urges-gra/

Can someone please define tax evasion for me. Since there are laws governing the use of the VSat Equipment, claims of illegitimate use can be warranted. BUT to say that VOIP services are illegal and a means of tax evasion, is like saying that producing your own Bio-diesel to run your car on is illegal because you opt not to use the imported gasoline that attracts heavy Government tax.

I have a solution. If anyone want to chat with their family and friends, and have a Personal Computer at home make contact with me and I will help you to get the system so you can chat internationally with your friends and using your computer at the lowest rate.

At the time I am writing this article there are 68 comments by concerned citizens on the Stabroek news website on this article if you feel concerned make your voice heard. Let us save our communication and freedom of speech.

Read on my blog http://ranfred-success.blogspot.com and subscribe

Absolutely no doubt about it….YOU WILL LEAVE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.

A very good submission and all in line with my previous opinions.
Whatever taxes, more likely VAT, are due, then the GRA needs to do an assessment and send the notice. Simple.
But to deem the operations illegal and all that hogwash is rediculous.

Finish your studies and hightail out of there…..pronto.

1. According to GT&T, all outbound calls must go through their network. Yeah right! Thank God for the emerging and converging technology.

2. The state of our roads are in a mess – potholes, a few signs and signals here and there, hardly any high-visibility road signs.

3. They can’t deal with the minibus issue – boom boom, overloading, fares, etc.up until now.

4. Garbage collection is poorly and so hastily done that the collectors leave the place looking and smelling worst than before.

5. No one sees the need for the tweaking of the traffic lights at some junctions

6. City council still send people in the dirty drains to cut grass with cutlass, and desilt the drains with their hands – tell ya about caring for ya human resources

7. Presi is visionless really, the government does things in a ad-hoc and reactive fashion. The things he get right are tokens it seems

8. They talking about grow more and grow more…….maybe they should lead the way with distributing some white-elephant lands around de place to serious farmers

9. The judicial system in a mess…..backlogs of cases. The prison and locks are in such a state……

10. GRA in a mess………corruption and runnings…..too much tax on imported vehicles…….what thye doing with all this money???????

11. The Guyana Police Force needs to embrace the use of technology more…..everything they do is so manual and 19howlong…………are they intimidated by computers or maybe they’re not ready for the change……..?

12. Some if not many government institutions closes off to the public at lunch. Tell ya about customer service. Some

13. Place yours here

14. And yours here

Inspite of all these backwardness, we are still better off than some countries…….but it’s this same ***k@#? thinking that will keep us backward!

lol