US wants to stop double taxation of American businesses in Guyana

Last Updated on Monday, 30 March 2026, 21:48 by Writer

The United States (US) is pushing for a double taxation treaty with Guyana to avoid American businesses from paying taxes in both countries, US Ambassador Nicole Theriot said at the weekend.

“That is something that my office, my embassy here, has been working very closely with Washington on. We’re trying to convince them that this would be useful, because, you know, obviously, if you’re a U.S. company, you don’t want to have to pay taxes both in Guyana and in the United States. That’s patently unfair,” she told News Source’s SOURCES.

The American envoy said the absence of a double taxation treaty was one of the issues often raised by US companies.

Still on the issue of taxation, Ms Theriot said foreign companies were experiencing problems getting tax refunds from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) “I’ll just be completely honest. GRA can be difficult for a lot of foreign companies, including U.S. companies, to navigate, and getting tax refunds that they’re owed is sometimes an issue,” she said on the hour-long interview broadcast on social media.

The American envoy also said Guyana needed to revisit its laws and regulations, something she said US and other international companies were pushing Guyana to do. “A lot of your laws and regulations are quite old, and things have really changed here incredibly quickly in the last five years or so,” Ms Theriot said.

She said those concerns were being addressed, resulting in US companies being “much more comfortable as they see the attention being paid to those issues.”

Last week Tuesday, President Irfaan Ali said he instructed that steps be taken to reform Guyana’s laws due to concerns that had been raised by foreign investors.

“This is not speaking in abstract. We are seeing this from investors, whether from the US (United States), from the UK (United Kingdom), from the Middle East. The portfolio, our investors and investment portfolio is changing, and the laws governing their operation are somewhat different,” he said at the launch of the revised laws of Guyana (December 31, 2022) and the law reports of Guyana (2008-2011).