FEATURE: TIN-Improving tax administration, electronic facility for large companies          

Recently there has been increased sensitisation to the Taxpayer Identification Number which will be fully implemented from January 2008.

What is TIN?
TIN, simply put, is a unique computer-generated number allocated to each taxpayer, whether they are an individual, a commercial business, a Government department, Public Corporation, or a special body.  It basically identifies taxpayers for the purpose of all their transactions, including their tax and revenue liabilities, with the GRA.

Why do we need TIN?
Last year the Income Tax Amendment No. 2 Act (Act No. 15) of 2006 was passed by the National Assembly paving the way for the introduction of the TIN.

Section 3 of the TIN Act states, “The Taxpayer Identification Number means the Guyana Revenue Authority taxpayer identification number assigned by the Revenue Authority, to a taxpayer for the purpose of transacting business with the Authority under this Act.”

“The Taxpayer who would have been given the TIN for the first time would be allowed to use that number for all taxes whether its for Value Added Tax (VAT), Customs duties or Income Tax; so he does not have to run around to get a number to do business at the Customs and a separate number at VAT; he uses the same number,” Commissioner-General Mr. Khurshid Sattaur said.

This means that the TIN not only identifies persons for the purposes of Income Tax, but for ALL transactions they may have with the GRA whether it’s at the Customs and Trade Administration, Licence Revenue Office, Internal Revenue or VAT and Excise Department as well as any Government Department, Public Corporation and the Central Bank.

Prior to the implementation of TIN, the Internal Revenue Department (IRD) number was used to conduct business with the Internal Revenue and an importer’s and Exporter’s number was used to conduct the related business with the Customs and Trade Administration.

Director, Returns processing Eton London said , “I believe that the amendment to Section 60 of the Income Tax Act in 2006 ushered in a new period as to how taxpayers will do business with the GRA and not only the GRA but also other government entities.”
 
 The TIN will bring some amount of uniformity across the GRA in keeping with its improvements in tax administration generally.
Benefits of TIN
TIN will replace all of these numbers so a taxpayer has one and only one number which he uses to conduct any business with the GRA and other government departments.

“Because we can access his data in any part of the country, once we have the system in place, a taxpayer does not have to run around to a particular location in Guyana to do business, he would be able to do business at any GRA location, so obviously some ease in doing business with the public will be evident with the introduction of TIN,” Mr. Sattaur pointed out. Because TIN literally links all of the GRA Departments, Mr Sattaur said, “The TIN does some other things for us, it allows us to reconcile data very quickly,” providing the GRA with a comprehensive assessment of taxpayers.   

The Commissioner-General noted that taxpayers who are serving the GRA in the most effective manner, by making their submissions on time, would benefit the most because they are the ones whose information would be easily accessed and processed.

Use of TIN
The use of the TIN is not only restricted to the GRA, however. The TIN Act (No.15 of 2006) states, “Notwithstanding any other law, any person who makes an application to or is issued any permission, licence, authority or any such other document by any of the following entities  - a Government department, a public Authority …or a local authority, a Public Corporation, established under the Public Corporations Act 1988 or any other law or other State Agency, the Central Bank established under Section 3 of he bank of Guyana Act; may be required to furnish the person processing the document with the TIN of the person.”

Hence, Government Agencies, Public and Local Authorities and Public Corporations may need to put systems in place to ensure that suppliers of goods and services submit their TIN when conducting business with the said bodies.

“Before you are paid by your employer for services rendered, you may have to provide your TIN to your employer,” Mr. Sattaur said.

“If you do business with the Deeds Registry and you have to transfer a property …you will not be able to get it done until you provide them with your TIN,” he added

As it relates to the Licence Revenue Office, the Commissioner-General said, “Unless you provide them with a TIN you will not be allowed to transfer your vehicle or renew your licence and therefore many persons would have to be penalised and have to wait long periods to get business done.”

TIN registration Requirement
Anyone above 15 years who conducts business transactions with the GRA and any of the agencies listed above is required to have a TIN.
However, until further notice, only those persons receiving barrels containing commercial items are required to have a TIN.

Since the public awareness on TIN has intensified, several calls have been recorded from pensioners inquiring whether they too are required to have a TIN.
The GRA wishes to emphasise that anyone who conducts business with the GRA whether it is transferring an asset or renewing a licence and they are above 15 years old, they would be required to have a TIN. It notes that while pension is not taxable, pensioners doing business with the GRA would require a TIN.

Several persons who do not meet the requirements for TIN have been turning up at the registry to uplift a TIN such as students and persons not yet in receipt of barrels.

Employee/Employer responsibility  
Approximately 50, 000 individuals and companies have applied for their TIN. However, the GRA anticipates a total of approximately 150, 000 taxpayers to be registered on the system by January 2008.

To facilitate bulk applications, the GRA has built an electronic facility that would process TIN applications.

The Guyana Sugar Corporation and the Ministry of Finance are presently utilising the facility and the GRA is encouraging other large companies or organisations that would like to benefit from this facility to contact the Registry, GPO Building so that the necessary arrangement could be put in place to facilitate the exercise.

While employers are tasked, under the law, to ensure that persons in their employ have a TIN, Mr London said, “We cannot negate the fact that employees themselves are responsible for obtaining their TIN because when they are ready to submit their returns for their 2007 income, they would be expected to quote their TIN as against their IRD number.”

He added, if an employee does not have a TIN, the GRA will be unable to accept and process any returns for either the company for which he works or the individual taxpayer.

This is a dramatic move in which the GRA deliver its services to its partners.
“TIN is just one of those mechanisms or means through which we’re trying to assist taxpayers to better have business done with us,” Mr. London said.  

“It costs you nothing as a taxpayer. It’s not a tax. It has nothing to do with fees of any sort; it is our way of helping to ensure that our computer system, in particular, are as modern as possible and are up to date to deal with matters of our taxpayers” he added.

Already importers, exporters and all VAT registrants have been assigned a TIN and have been using their TIN for importation and other business transactions.