Nearly 85% of active self-employed didn’t file tax returns last year

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) continues to face difficulty in getting self-employed persons, and corporations to submit tax returns, according to the latest Auditor General’s report.

Auditor General Deodat Sharma, in his 2015 report, said that almost 85% of active registered self-employed persons had not filed tax returns last year.

“As of December 31, 2015 there were 126,669 registered self-employed persons. Of this number, 93,157 were identified as active however only 14,164 filed a total of 34,644 returns resulting in collections totalling $3.407 billion. Therefore, 78,993 self-employed persons did not file their tax returns,” the report states, while adding that in 2014 a similar situation obtained as of 85,753 active self-employed persons only 37,252 returns were filed.