State recovers MVR 1.82B in unpaid taxes

The President's Office. (File Photo)

The State recovered MVR 1.82 billion in unpaid taxes in 2018, says Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA).

MIRA’s annual report for 2018 shows the agency issued notice to 8,872 parties for failure to pay taxes owed to the State, and to 12,157 parties for failure to submit tax statements.

7,466 of the parties complied with the notice and paid their dues – allowing MIRA to recover MVR 955.12 million.

The report shows MIRA took additional measures to recover unpaid taxes from the parties which failed to comply with the notice. It recovered MVR 18.19 million by shutting down services provided by State institutions and companies to the parties in question; MVR 124.46 million by freezing bank accounts, and MVR 162.6 million at tax clearance form submission stage.

MIRA reports that since its inception, it has recovered MVR 7.3 billion in unpaid taxes for the State.

The annual report shows 233 parties were awarded concessions by allowing them to pay back their unpaid taxes in installments. Civil lawsuits were filed against 151 parties which failed to comply with the arrangement. 69 of the lawsuits ended in favor of MIRA in 2018. 25 of the lawsuits were settled out of court.

MIRA also recovered an additional MVR 19.60 million based on 37 investigative audits run on tax statements. It also requested criminal charges against 16 parties with the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The highest volume of MIRA’s audits were run on businesses which submit goods and service tax (GST). The agency ran 1,015 audits and recovered MVR 107.35 million from the businesses.

The agency also audited 355 tourist enterprises and recovered MVR 121.28 million.

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