A local businessman who took the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to court for over-taxing him for his imported Land Cruiser has won his case. He will only pay 1.8 Million instead of the $14 M levied by the authority.
On October 30, 2020, Mr. Mohamed Shaw Jahan brought the Land Cruiser from England, the United Kingdom where it was classified as a ‘light goods vehicle’. However, the GRA insisted that the vehicle was a passenger vehicle.
Mr. Jahan, with representation from His Attorney at law, Stand Dhurjon, took GRA to the court. Today Justice Damone Younge granted several orders in which will see Mr. Jahan only pay $1,871,457.
In the court ruling today, Justice Younge said that the GRA and Mr. Godfrey Statia wrongfully classified the 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser Utility Commercial vehicle as a passenger vehicle under the tariff heading 8703.
This incorrect classification would have required Mr. Jahan to pay nearly $14 Million in taxes and duties to the GRA.
Additionally, Justice Younge also ordered that the respondents take all steps necessary to see to the release of the vehicle as soon as practicable.
The judge also ordered that Mr. Jahan be reimbursed by the GRA and Mr. Statia for the costs of storing the vehicle at the John Fernandes terminal from January 2021 to the date of its release.
The learned judge also ordered that the GRA and Mr. Statia pay the costs of Jahan’s lawsuit to him.
Attorney Dhurjon welcomed the decision. According to him, this is believed to be the first case of its kind in Guyana. The learned judge came to her determination after a very thorough and exhaustive survey on the law of tariffs and classification.
He added that in this case, Justice Younge considered the World Customs Organisation’s explanatory notes, the Customs Act, and Guyana’s Common External Tariff introducing the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System into law before disagreeing with the submissions of the attorneys for the GRA, Ms. Judy Adonis-Stuart, and four other GRA attorneys.
