The Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) has recorded an 18.6% increase in state revenue in February.
The statistics published by MIRA show that the state received USD112 million in revenue in February, which is an 18.6% increase compared to February 2022, but a 20.8% decrease compared to the projected revenue.
MIRA stated that the revenue in February this year is higher than in February last year due to the increment in the collection of Goods and Services Tax (GST), Tourism Goods and Services Tax (TGST), Corporate Income Tax, Non-resident Withholding Tax, Airport Development Fee and airport taxes and fees. It noted that GST and TGST rates increased to 8% and 16% respectively, resulting in an increase in collections. It added that the number of tourist arrivals was higher by 30.9% in January this year compared to the same month in 2022.
A large amount of the state revenue collected in February was from GST. As such, USD77 million were collected in GST, USD12 million were collected in income tax, and USD5.9 million were collected in green tax. In addition, USD5.3 million were collected in airport development fees and USD5.1 million were collected in departure tax.
Furthermore, MIRA stated that the 20.8% decrement in revenue compared to the forecast for the month is mainly due to the decline in the collection of GST. It highlighted that the time of supply in relation to goods or services supplied shall be deemed as the time at which a tax invoice is issued or at the time at which the full or partial payment for such goods or services was made, whichever comes earlier. As the tax rate was effective from January 1, MIRA stated that taxpayers could raise the tax invoice prior to this date in advance, and thus the GST for February was lower than the forecasted revenue.