Includes information on average tariff rates and types that U.S. firms should be aware of when exporting to the market.
Last Published: 7/9/2019

As a member of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), Guyana maintains a Common External Tariff (CET) rate that ranges from 5 percent to 20 percent.  All duties are ad valorem, or value added.  A tariff rate of 40 percent applies only to agricultural products subject to the CET.  According to Guyana’s most recent WTO Trade Policy Review published in July 2015, the overall simple average applied MFN tariff in 2014 increased only marginally by 0.1 percent since 2009 to 12.1 percent.  The average tariff for agricultural product, 22.7 percent, was considerably higher than that for non-agricultural products, 10.0 percent.
 
In addition to the tariff levied on imports, the Government of Guyana levies a value added tax (VAT) on goods and services at a general rate of 14 percent, which applies equally to imports and domestically-produced goods and services.  VAT on merchandise imports is calculated based on the CIF (Cost, Insurance, and Freight) customs value plus the sum of import duties and any other taxes and charges.  Businesses producing taxable supplies of goods and services (at the standard and/or zero rates) of GYD 10 million or more, over a 12-month period, must be VAT-registered.  More information on VAT is available through the Guyana Revenue Authority website.

Excise tax rates are currently levied on alcoholic beverages (at a rate of 40 percent); tobacco products (at a rate of 100 percent); gasoline (at a rate of 50 percent); diesel oil (at a rate of 50 percent); gas oil (at a rate of 50 percent); and motor vehicles (rates vary widely according to the age, engine capacity, type, and usage of the vehicle).  Excise taxes may be waived by the Commissioner General of the GRA if items imported are for temporary use.  In such circumstances, goods must be exported within three months and a deposit left with the Commissioner General.  More information on the excise tax is available through the Guyana Revenue Authority website.

Under the Customs Act, Guyana levies a GYD 10 environmental tax on every unit of non-returnable metal, plastic, glass, or cardboard container of any alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage imported into Guyana.  The tax is paid to the GRA.  More information on the environmental tax is available through the Guyana Revenue Authority website.  Recently, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ordered Guyana to reimburse a Surinamese beverage manufacturer more than USD 6 million in environmental tax that had been levied on the company’s non-returnable bottles, finding that the tax amounted to a discriminatory import duty, violating CARICOM’s Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC).

 

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