Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur says the GRA intends to raise public awareness of the new Online Tax Payment System which it recently implemented.
Sattaur told this newspaper on Friday that since the implementation of the new payment system earlier this month, currently being offered by Demerara Bank, no customer had signed up for it.
He said in the initial stage, customers wishing to pay their taxes online through the various banks on board, Demerara Bank, Republic Bank (Guyana) and the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) first had to go into their bank’s office to set up the system.
Thereafter customers could utilize the online payment service from home or wherever they have access to the internet.
However, he said, GBTI and Republic Bank have not yet finished the necessary steps needed to start operations into the online payment system, though Republic Bank has indicated it will start soon.
In addition, Sattaur said, thus far, only five persons have utilized the option to pay their taxes via Bill Express, he went on to state that customers would need to take with them, their Tax Identification Number (TIN), Identifi-cation Card (ID), supply a contact number, state the tax type and supply the year the tax is being paid for. The fee for the service at Bill Express is $300, Sattaur said.
Currently access to GRA’s online payment system is limited to the listed banks but Sattaur said by the end of the year when the Total Revenue Integrated Process System (TRIPS) is completely implemented, it is expected that customers will able to access the service from GRA’s website as well.
TRIPS, Sattaur said comes in phases and allows use of online non-downloadable computer software for managing databases for tracking, controlling, and administering revenue and for tax payment processing.
The new online tax and mobile payment system was established on March 11 with the hope of promoting greater transparency while making access convenient to taxpayers. Sattaur also said that it is his hope that with the new system customers don’t have to put themselves at the risk of being robbed by having to walk around with large sums of cash to pay their taxes.
The automated drivers’ licence was also launched on March 11 and private car drivers who renew their expired licence will be given the new automated licence. In order to obtain the new licence, the driver will have to take a copy of his old licence, vehicle registration and pay a fee of $300.
