Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Commissioner-General Khurshid Sattaur is urging taxpayers to complete the self assessment section of their Income Tax Return Forms by completing the Income Tax Computation.
A statement from the GRA said that in the past failure to do this has resulted in the body being unable to enter the incomplete returns into its database. “When persons file incomplete returns a lodgement receipt cannot be issued, and if efforts to contact such persons prove futile, then the taxpayer is listed as having not filed a return and may subsequently be issued with a demand notice.
The fact is that the system will not accept an incomplete return and the GRA will have no record of the taxpayer filing a return for a particular period,” he was quoted as saying. Sattaur further urged that when a return is filed on behalf of a taxpayer by a trustee, agent or attorney, it should be indicated on the form by way of their capacity, signature, address and the date the form was completed.
He said that computations allow the commission to determine the amount of taxes to be paid. In the case of self-employed persons, it is necessary to determine whether the tax payer has under or over paid taxes. For employees, it will determine whether they owe taxes or may be entitled to a refund.
Persons who have under paid taxes have until April 30 to pay the outstanding taxes. The commissioner reminded that failure to pay taxes can result in a penalty of up to 5% per month. Persons who file their returns late can face up to 2% penalty on the tax assessed. If a notice has to be sent, the tax payer will be required to pay a 5% penalty.
Additionally, self-employed persons are reminded to submit an income and expenditure statement along with their return while employees have to obtain a 7A or 7B slip from their employers. Taxpayers were also reminded of the need to include their taxpayer identification number to enable the processing of their returns.
