The Edition
facebook icon twitter icon instagram icon linkedin icon

Latest

Tourism Act fix resumes Green Tax imposition

Mohamed Rehan
21 September 2022, MVT 21:46
Green Tax is collected from tourists holidaying at various tourist properties--
Mohamed Rehan
21 September 2022, MVT 21:46

President of Maldives ratifies the latest amendment to Tourism Act.

This marks the second amendment to the act in 2022, which resulted due to an error in the previous amendment. A provision in the earlier approved bill stated the date of effect for Green Tax imposition was in 2023, which halted legal tax collection via Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA).

Following parliament's approval of the second amendment, and the subsequent ratification by the president, the tax authority will have legal enforceability on collecting Green Tax once again.

In the provision from the previous amendment, the exact date of effect for the green tax was written January 1, 2023 by mistake. However, several tourist properties continued to charge the tax from tourists despite the legal interruptions.

MIRA continued to accept tax collected by tourist properties amid the 'legal limbo' on the Tourism Act.

Green Tax collected from the date of ratification of the previous amendment, until the date of ratification of the most recent amendment on Wednesday, September 21, should be either repaid to the respective taxpayers, or back to state.

Moreover, green tax collected from any person or persons not specified in the Tourism Act, or green tax collected in excess of the legally mandated amount, should be repaid to the taxpayer, and if not repaid to the taxpayer, the tourist property where the tourist stayed should repay the amount to the state.

State collected a total of MVR 617 million in green tax as of August 2022. Meanwhile, government estimates an annual total of MVR 824 million in green tax for the current fiscal year.

MORE ON NEWS