Army upbraided for failing to register ranks with NIS, GRA

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has over the years been consistently failing to have its members register with the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) in addition to failure to comply with mandatory requirements of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The matter has since been flagged by Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, in his 2015 Report on the nation’s accounts.
Sharma in his 2015 Report drew reference to the prior year where it was reported that there were 36 employees who were not registered with the NIS and another 146 had only temporary numbers.
“A similar situation was noted in 2015, whereby there were thirty-five employees who were not registered and therefore were without NIS numbers, while three hundred and two had temporary numbers.”
It was noted that even though the GDF took action to have some persons registered and others receive permanent numbers, there continued to be delays in having the new recruits registered.
The GDF in response committed to having its members compliant, adding that “in this regard, efforts are being made to have persons with temporary numbers allocated permanent numbers.”
The army said too those persons with temporary numbers were informed of the requirement to have their numbers regularised and that “this process is an ongoing one, to ensure that employees are compliant.”
It was also noted by the Auditor General that the GDF has still not taken the necessary steps to have all of its employees registered with GRA.
Sharma in his 2015 Report had cause to recall that this situation had obtained in the previous year.
“In my 2014 Report, it was reported that there were three hundred and thirty-nine employees who were without Tax Identification Numbers.”
According to Sharma, “A similar situation was noted in 2015, whereby there were two hundred and eighty employees without Tax Identification Numbers.”
He noted that even though the GDF took action to have some persons registered there continued to be delays in having the new recruits registered with the Guyana Revenue Authority.
According to the GDF, “A recent exercise was conducted with the GRA through the Ministry of Finance and it revealed that the GDF has two hundred and eighty persons with missing TIN information.”
Additionally, a list is being compiled for the persons with missing TIN, in order for GRA to provide the TIN in their system for these persons.