Businessman sues GRA over “misclassification” of 2 Toyota Tundra pick-ups

Businessman Hanson Ross of Atlantic Gardens, East Coast Demerara (ECD), has sued the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) over what he contends is the “misclassification” of his two four-door Toyota Tundra pick-ups.

In legal documents prepared by Attorney-at-Law Siand Dhurjon, Ross, the proprietor of Hanson Trading, Import, and Export said that on September 19, 2021, and October 7, 2021, he imported two extended cab 2007 Toyota Tundra pick-ups under the legitimate expectation that they would be treated and classified as “goods vehicles” which attract only about $417,000 in taxes for each truck.
According to counsel, his client as well as his custom brokers spoke to officers of the GRA both verbally and in writing to appeal to them to have the vehicles properly deemed as “goods vehicles.”
However, he said that his client received a letter dated December 10, 2021, from GRA’s Harmonised System Classification Committee, which stated that the “vehicles [are] principally designed for the transport of passengers and not goods vehicles.” With the vehicles being classified as such, Ross’s lawyer said that this meant his client would have to pay approximately $16,771,949 to clear both of them.

According to the lawyer, he wrote GRA on the issue and it had agreed to examine the vehicles and to “further review” its position. But GRA, Dhurjon noted, maintained its position. Most worryingly, the lawyer added that on July 7, GRA published his client’s vehicles on its want-of-entry list in a section of the media so that they would be disposed of.
The GRA, after receiving another missive from Dhurjon, agreed to withdraw and remove the two Toyota Tundra from the want-of-entry list for disposal. With no resolution of the matter, on November 30, Ross filed a Fixed Date Application (FDA) under the Judicial Review Act, challenging the actions of GRA and its Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia.
In court filings, Dhurjon brought to the attention of the GRA and identified at least three vehicles identical to the Tundra, that were imported and registered in the “G” series and therefore treated as goods vehicles.
“In fact, a much larger four-door Toyota Tundra Pick-up of the ‘CrewMax’ double cab type was registered as a goods vehicle,” counsel submitted, while pointing to a double-cabin Ford Explorer and a Toyota Tacoma, both of which he claimed were classified as goods vehicles in recent times.
He also averred to the existence of hundreds of four-door pick-ups with six seats in Guyana, especially the Mitsubishi Canter and Toyota Toyoace pick-ups.
The lawsuit has placed in evidence a policy of the GRA in respect of pick-ups which allows for a liberal scheme for the deeming of ‘double cab pick-ups’ as goods vehicles once certain criteria are met. The lawyer contends that his client’s vehicles “would truly and properly” fall under those criteria and he can prove the reason.
According to Dhurjon, GRA cannot claim that this policy is no longer in force since he has presented evidence to this end given to him by a whistle-blower working at the GRA.
He submitted that his client has documents to prove that GRA relied on the very policy to permit a Toyota Tundra identical to his client’s pick-ups to be deemed as a goods vehicle recently.
Ross’s lawsuit against the GRA seeks declarations that the two Toyota Tundra are motor vehicles used for the transport of goods falling under the classification code 8704 of Chapter 87 of Part 1 of the First Schedule to the Customs Act; and that the Commissioner-General acted arbitrarily, ultra vires, unreasonably, irrationally, unfairly, abusively of power, unconstitutionally, whimsically, capriciously, against GRA’s own policy and without any legal foundation or authority.
Ross also seeks an order of certiorari to quash his two four-door Toyota Tundra’s classifications as passenger vehicles and an order of mandamus to compel the Commissioner-General to take all steps necessary to recognise, classify and accept the said vehicles as motor vehicles used for the transport of goods and to assess the taxes and duties correspondingly.
Ross is further claiming from the GRA the cost of storing the said vehicles at the Muneshwers wharf to date which now amounts to over $2,900,000 according to the vehicles’ storage invoices put into evidence.
The matter is currently before acting Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, who is likely to fix a date for hearing in the matter shortly.