The government has gazetted the order to increase the excise tax applied to vehicles imported by re-migrants.
The order was published on July 30, a day after the High Court had ruled that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) was unlawfully applying the increased rates to re-migrants.
The order, signed by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with the Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Ashni Singh, states that the Excise Tax (Amendment) Regulations 2024 shall be deemed to come into operation on September 1, 2023.
Under the order, re-migrants are now required to pay 5% excise tax on vehicles of less than 1800cc, 10% excise tax on vehicles 1801-2000cc, 20% excise tax on vehicles 2001cc-3000cc and 30% on vehicles above 3000cc.
Since July 2023, the GRA had been applying the new rates to re-migrants.
On July 29, Chief Justice Roxane George ruled that the GRA was acting unlawfully.
The matter came about after re-migrant Aditya Basdeo sued the GRA.
It was reported that on April 8, 2024, the Commissioner General of the GRA, Godfrey Statia, had written Basdeo that he was given duty free concessions as a re-migrant. However, Statia required that Basdeo pay 30% excise taxes on his new generation 2023 Toyota Landcruiser vehicle.
Basdeo took issue with this and caused his attorney to write the GRA on 15th April, 2024 explaining that there was a problem because the correct and proper excise tax rate was 10%.
In Basdeo’s case the 10% was equivalent to over $1,500,000 but the GRA was insisting that he pay nearly $4,600,000 – a difference of $3,100,000 in illegal taxes. The GRA never responded and on 28th May, 2024 Basdeo caused his attorney, Mr. Siand Dhurjon, to sue the GRA.
The GRA’s Deputy Commissioner, Mr Gavin Low, had subsequently responded by saying that regulations of 10th July, 2023 tripled the rate of excise taxes payable from 10% to 30%.
However, when the matter came up for hearing before the Chief Justice on July 29, counsel for the GRA, Ms. Nicklin Belgrave, reported that the tax body made a mistake because they realised that the Minister of Finance had merely signed the regulations of July 2023 but the regulations were not duly brought into force by being published in the Official Gazette or being tabled in the National Assembly.
The Chief Justice had ruled that GRA’s policy of requiring 30% excise taxes was unlawful and she granted an order of certiorari quashing Statia’s assessment of 30% excise taxes. The Judge also granted an order of mandamus to compel the GRA to apply the correct excise tax of 10%. The Judge granted an order that Basdeo’s 2023 Landcruiser must be released to him forthwith upon payment of the correct excise taxes.
Basdeo’s Landcruiser had come into Guyana on 28th June, 2024 and has been on the wharf racking up storage costs ever since. The Chief Justice ordered that the GRA was to pay the storage costs as well as the costs of the lawsuit in a specified sum to Basdeo.
