The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) collected some $225.99 billion in tax revenue for the 2019 fiscal period, with the oil and gas sector contributing significantly, Commissioner General Godfrey Statia disclosed on Friday.
“Our revenue has increased to just under $230 billion or 13.8 percent more than 2018,” Statia said at a press conference.
The $225.99 billion represents an increase of 1.1% above the budgeted estimates for the year and some $27.48 billion or 13.8% above the actual collection for the same period in 2018, Statia highlighted.
The GRA’s total collection for the fiscal year 2018 was $198.5 billion, which was $27 billion more than the $171.1 billion collected in 2017. It was also higher than the $181.8 billion in collections that was projected in the 2018 national budget.
“The high collection and positive variances resulted mainly from three companies within the oil and gas sector making significant increased remittances. The total remittances from these entities accounted for $13.6 billion or 61% of the total withholding tax collections during the period January to December 2019, while the increased remittances accounted for 78% of the variance recorded over the previous year,” documents shared by the Statia to reporters indicated.
Producing data with the breakdown of the performance of the agency for January to December 2019, Statia said that the GRA’s arrears totalled $5.08 billion.
Turning to revenue performance of core tax types, the data showed that internal revenue collection for last year stood at $104 billion. Meanwhile, Value-Added Tax (VAT) and Excise Tax raked in $96.58 billion for 2019. The VAT collected was $2.1 billion lower than budgeted while excise tax collected was $2.17 billion over the budgeted figure. The VAT collected for 2019 amounted to $52.74 billion, which is more than the $48.18 billion collected in 2018 but 3.8% less than the budgeted amount for 2019 which was $54.85 billion.
Meanwhile, the GRA’s outlook for 2020 forecasts that it will rake in about $243.97 billion in tax revenue. This amount, according to the agency, represents an increase of $20.4 billion or 9.12% above the approved budget for 2019 and $17.98 billion or 8% above actual collections for 2019.
“The forecast comprised of a total of $115.90 billion from Internal Revenue taxes, an increase of $11.56 billion or 11%; $26.52 billion from customs, an increase of $1.44 billion or 6%; $55.76 billion from VAT, an increase of $3.01 billion or 6% and $45.79 billion from Excise Tax, an increase of $1.97 billion or 5%, when compared with collections for 2019,” according to the GRA.
