Amendment to taxation laws passed

An amendment to the taxation law of Maldives that will see only the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA)'s commissioner-general of taxation Yazeed Mohamed and the deputy commissioner general removed from the posts has been approved by the parliament.

It was first proposed that all members of the board would lose their positions under the amendment which was later revised during the committee process.

59 members of the parliament voted to approve the amendment while three members of the parliament abstained. The amendment is so that the new appointments to the posts can only be made by the president with the approval of the parliament. The amendment also changed the previous measures where the commissioner could take part in Taxation Board votes, and now leaves the commissioner as a non-voting member on the board.

The commissioner can now be changed by the president by submitting the motion to the parliament under the new amendment. The grounds stated for the motion under the amendment are for the negligence of responsibilities, influencing or misuse of power or violating the standards set out by the board.

New amendments lighten tax appeal cases

The taxation law would be amended so that appeals can now be made after 30 percent of the payments are made. Prior to this, all payments had to be made before an appeal process could be brought forward. The 30 percent is separate from any fines or interests that are to be paid under the case to MIRA.

Under the amendment, taxpayers are also entitled to an answer to any complaints within 120 days regarding any decisions made by the commissioner general. If an answer is not received within the timeframe, the taxpayer can conclude that the decision by the commissioner general was false.