Parliament OKs introduction of 'Departure Tax', revision of ADF

In today’s sitting of the People’s Majilis, the amendments proposed to the law pertaining to fees collected from outbound travelers from the Maldives have been approved.

The amendments were passed with the vote of 42 parliamentarians out of the 43 that were in attendance. Just one MP voted against the proposed amendments. A total of 22 votes was needed to pass the bill.

This bill was initially proposed by North Fuvahmulah MP Mohamed Rasheed in December 2019.

When the bill was proposed two and a half years ago, the plan was to cease the collection of Airport Service Charge and introduce a ‘Departure Tax’ to be collected based on the travel class of passengers instead. A suggestion was also made to revise the current rates of Airport Development Fee (ADF) similarly.

However, the initial timeline proposed in the bill to begin implementing the changes has now passed. Subsequently, a new timeline that was proposed by the Finance Ministry will be followed.

Under this timeline, the collection of Airport Service Charge will cease at the end of this year after which the collection of Departure Tax will begin in January of next year.

Departure Tax will be collected from all international outbound travelers from Maldives – including foreigners and locals. It will be categorized into four in which locals and foreigners will be charged the same in all categories except for in Economy Class.

Departure Tax

Departure Tax will only be exempt to persons who have diplomatic immunity, transit passengers and children under the age of two.

ADF will be charged at the current rates until the end of this year as well. Starting from January 2022, the fee will be collected from all international outbound travelers from the Maldives as stated below.

Airport Development Fee