clarification on Withholding Tax application - GYSBI v. the GRA

Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI) was able to recover just about $35.5 million GYD from Guyana’s Revenue Authority for unlawfully levied withholding tax (WHT). In a decision from the High Court of Guyana in November 2025, GYSBI was able to recover $35,496,147 GYD assessed and collected by GRA in 2020.

On a relevant tangent, some readers may be wondering what WHT is exactly? It is an advance tax collection for non-resident contractors collected and paid by local companies on the non-resident contractors’ behalf. The law requires that if a Guyanese is doing business with a non-resident contractor, the Guyanese must withhold a certain percentage of the payment, as required by law, and submit the return and the payment to the Revenue Authority.

Back to the main topic, the litigation concerned payments made by GYSBI to three companies not resident in Guyana that provided GYSBI with management and professional services for services rendered outside of Guyana during the tax year of assessment 2018-2019. It should also be noted that the payments for these services were made outside of Guyana, and the three companies had no presence in Guyana. GYSBI attempted to appeal the decision against the Revenue Authority but to no avail. As such they appealed to the High Court. The matter was heard by the then Chief Justice George. The Court agreed with GYSBI, that payments were not made in Guyana and the services were not provided in Guyana, as such the payments were excluded from the section of the Income Tax Act that creates an obligation to pay WHT on behalf of non-resident contractors.

The importance of this case can’t be understated as it clarifies two important issues and reinforces a third issue relating to WHT. Firstly, payments must arise in Guyana Secondly, the services must be offered in Guyana. Finally, the onus of proving that the taxing authority is wrong in its levy is on the taxpayer.