Government to take action against companies with dues to the State

The government has decided to take action against persons and organisations with dues to the State.

Government tax authority, Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA), has published a policy in this regard on their website, subsequent to discussions with government ministries.

MIRA has identified three types of action to be taken against groups that fail to settle their dues within fifty days of the policy being enforced, which is from 1 November.

This includes temporarily refusing to provide public services to those companies, ceasing business transactions with those companies, and refusing award of contracts to them.

The institutions that will implement these actions are Economic Ministry, Finance Ministry, Transport Ministry, Male’ City Council, Maldives Customs and Department of Immigration.

The companies against which action will be taken include import/export companies, restaurants, cafes, tourist resorts, hotels, groups to which islands have been leased for various purposes, groups to which lands have been leased for health purposes, and companies that rent and operate lands.

Action will be taken from 1 May 2013 onwards. MIRA has already commenced taking action against non-compliers of tax.

Statistics show that as at 31 August 2012, dues to the government exceed MVR400 million, the biggest percentage of which is from the tourism sector.