Two days after the Chief Justice ruled that the Guyana Revenue Authority’s increase in the Excise Tax on duty-free vehicle import for remigrants was illegal, the Government has moved to gazette the increase, to make it legal and applicable.
According to the gazetted document, re-migrants with duty free concessions who are seeking to import a vehicle that is 3000 cc and above will now have to pay an excise tax rate of 30%.
The previous rate was 10%. If they are seeking to import a a vehicle between 2001 cc and 3000cc, the rate will be 20% and vehicles with an engine size of 1801cc to 2000 cc will now attract a 10% excise tax rate. Vehicles below 1800cc will attract an excise tax rate of 5%.
The gazetted order makes the regulation with the increases retroactive to September 2023.
In a High Court ruling last week in favour of a remigrant, who faced the 30% excise tax rate and objected to it, the Chief Justice found that the GRA’s policy of requiring 30% excise taxes was unlawful and also granted an order quashing the assessment of the 30% excise taxes, since it had not been gazetted or laid before the National Assembly at the time.
The GRA was also ordered to refund all of those persons who had paid the new rate, which at the time was unlawful.
During the case, the GRA admitted that it had made a mistake with the implementation of the new tax rate at the time, because while the Minister of Finance had signed the new Regulations, they were not duly brought into force since they were not published in the Official Gazette or tabled in the National Assembly more than a year after he had signed the regulations.
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