The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) on Wednesday filed a statement in the High Court of Amount Due as Value Added Tax (VAT) from Friendship Hotel and Restaurant Holdings Limited, franchise holders of KFC and Pizza Hut.
The statement was filed for $45,164,000 owing to the GRA as VAT and interest for three consecutive periods: June to August, 2007. The amounts owed are as follows: June – VAT due $13,905,488, interest $804,613; July $13,444,860, interest $804,613 and August $16,199,193, interest $298,243.
Friendship Hotel and Restaurant Holdings Limited of Lot 1 Public Road, Ruimveldt, have been submitting returns but have failed to remit the taxes due. They were issued a notice on October 19 but continued in default, said a GRA release.
The GRA’s action was in keeping with Section 44 of the VAT Act which provides for the recovery of taxes due.
Section 44 (2) states, “Except where a person has lodged an appeal or where his case is engaging the attention of the Court, where a person fails to pay tax when it is due and payable, referred to as the ‘defaulter’, the Commissioner may file, with the clerk or registrar of a court of competent jurisdiction, a statement certified by the Commissioner setting forth the amount of the tax due and payable by that person, and that statement shall have the effect of a civil judgment lawfully given in that court in favour of the Commissioner for a debt in the amount specified in the statement; and the court shall issue a writ of execution in respect thereof against the defaulter.”
Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur said in the release that the GRA intends to pursue the matter further by requesting that a writ of execution be issued by the High Court against the assets of the company.
Over the past few months the GRA has taken several persistent VAT defaulters to court for failing to comply with various obligations under the VAT Act even after several warnings, said the release.
