The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has put in place a new mechanism for granting remissions on duty and consumption tax in accordance with the September 1 passage of the Fiscal Enactments Act.
On a visit to the Customs and Trade Administration's (CTA) Customs House on Friday, Stabroek News learnt that persons can apply to the Commissioner-General of the GRA for the remission.
A source within the CTA told Stabroek News that persons importing items such as cars, household goods and other articles can be granted the concession at the discretion of the Commissioner-General.
On the approval of the application, the GRA will issue a Commissioner-General (CG) Letter, which will be attached to the customs documents for the clearance of the items.
This means that what used to occur at the Ministry of Finance through the Secretary to the Treasury (ST) is now being done through the GRA's
GRA Commissioner has authority to grant remissions
Commissioner-General.
The passage of the Fiscal Enactments Act took away the discretionary powers of the Minister of Finance in the granting of the ST Letters and as such these documents now have no effect.
A source from within the GRA said that the application process is the same as that of the ST Letter except that the application is made to the Commissioner-General.
Khursid Sattaur, GRA's Commissioner-General, was said to be out when this newspaper called his office for a comment yesterday.