The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is implementing from today a simplified Customs declaration in an attempt to alleviate the hassle associated with the clearance of barrels at the Customs and Trade Administration.
According to a GRA press release Commissioner-General Khurshid Sattaur has said that this simplified declaration is expected to take effect from today and will be used to expedite the clearance of gift packages and barrels at the wharves and airport.
The form has been gazetted in keeping with Section 275 of the Customs Act to facilitate the effective date of implementation.
The procedure, the release stated, would now only include four steps as compared to 13 steps under the previous system. The form is so simple that individuals may not require a Customs broker to clear barrels and non-commercial packages. The importer will now save a minimum of $2,000 in broker fees.
However, the release noted, this is not to say the brokers will be out of a job. The C73 does not completely replace the C72 which will continue to be used for processing commercial transactions.
Where the importation of personal and household effects or non-commercial items exceeds the equivalent of US$200 but does not surpass the Guyana dollar equivalent of US$1,000, the C72 form will be required, Sattaur said.
The simplified Customs declaration or C73 will only replace the C72 for personal and household effects or non-commercial use, where the total CIF value of the consignment does not exceed US$200. The US$200 ceiling is synonymous with the provision for barrels and gift packages under the Value Added Tax Act.
Schedule 1 of the VAT Act zero-rates “goods imported for non-commercial purposes and contained in passenger’s baggage or imported in gift parcels sent by air or sea or by parcel post, of which the CIF value does not exceed the Guyana dollar equivalent of US$200, subject to the provisions contained in Annex 1 of the First Schedule Part 1 of the Customs Act.” However, such consignment will be subjected to the existing 30% duty flat rate, the release added.
