Close to $20B increase in revenue collected by Govt for 2023 — AG report

… $6.7B surplus in VAT collections, over $220B in internal revenue

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has made significant progress when it comes to improving its revenue collection, with the Auditor General’s 2023 report highlighting a massive $19.8 billion increase in revenue collection.
The AG report highlights that for 2023, the $197.8 billion in internal revenue target that was originally budgeted was exceeded by $29.9 billion. This means that for the year in question, $227.8 billion in internal revenue was collected.
“The main sub-categories accounting for the higher collections were private corporation tax of $5.744 billion, personal income tax of $7.036 billion, withholding tax of $14.201 billion, on account of higher collections predominantly from companies within the oil and gas sector,” the AG report states.
“Property tax on Private Sector companies exceeded the budgeted amount by $392.073 million resulting from significant arrears of $256.4 million paid by several commercial banks for 2017 to 2022, as well as an increase in payment resulting from an increased number of companies, from 512 in 2022 to 620 entities in 2023.”
When it comes to customs and trade taxes, their collection actually exceeded the budgeted amounts of $1.385 billion. This reflected higher collections from import duties of $965.1 million, owing to increased commodities imported by several major importers.

Betting
Interestingly, consumption tax collections on betting shops increased by $300.7 million. This, according to the Auditor General report, went over the budgeted amount on account of increased gambling and betting activities.
“Similarly, environmental levy reported collections of $2.941 billion compared to the original budget of $2.886 billion. The surplus in collections resulted from the higher values of commodities being imported including juices, fermented beverages, and assorted/aerated beverages.”
It was further explained by the AG report that capital gains tax, income tax on self-employed persons, premium tax, travel voucher tax and travel tax also recorded higher collections of $506.1 million, $305.8 million, $205.9 million, $133.7 million, and $98.045 million respectively.
“Of note, the subcategories for which collections were lower than budgeted were other personal income tax of $386.400 million and property tax on individuals of $22.544 million. Excise taxes exceeded the budgeted amount of $23.382 billion by $8.362 billion, mainly on account of higher collections of $5.312 billion from motor vehicles, and $3.542 billion from petroleum products.
“The increased collections from motor vehicles resulted from an increase in vehicles imported from 11,938 in 2022 to 21,664 in 2023, of which 6961 vehicles benefited from the excise tax measure implemented in 2023. In contrast, lower collections were realised from alcoholic beverages of $301.673 million and tobacco of $190.068 million.

VAT surplus
Meanwhile, the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) experienced a surplus of $6.7 billion, largely owing to collections from the Private Sector, including oil and gas companies. Collections from imports of goods were recorded at $114.7 million above the budget level of $28.2 billion.
“On the other hand, collections from the import of services were $29.817 million less than the budget of $313.745 million. Collections from miscellaneous receipts, within the non-tax revenue category, were $6.984 billion compared to the budgeted amount of $6.800 billion.”
“Higher receipts were recorded from lottery receipts by $77.500 million. However, the receipts from Guyana REDD Investment Funds were lower by $1.410 billion than the budgeted amount of $3.000 billion,” the AG said.
In addition, the report stated that receipts from dividends and special transfers were lower by $3.437 billion, resulting from fewer collections from statutory bodies and public enterprises. On the other hand, royalty collections were higher by $2.979 billion on account of higher gold declarations by foreign companies.
According to a Finance Ministry statement, these improved receipts are owed to the Government’s prudent management. Additionally, the Ministry pointed out that miscellaneous revenue under the non-tax revenue collection was $6.984 billion, over the budgeted $6.8 billion.