According to the latest statistics from Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA), the collections on remittance tax has decreased from January until August 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.
The statistics indicate an overall collection of MVR70 million for the review period in 2019 while in 2018 for the corresponding period the overall collection reached MVR71 million.
Although the overall collections had decreased, looking at the collections made exclusively for the month of August shows that in 2019 remittance tax collection had improved.
In August 2019, the total remittance tax collection reached MVR9.3 million whereas in the same month last year the collection reached MVR7.9 million.
Remittance tax was introduced in 2016 following amendments to the Employment Act of Maldives. Following the amendment, a total of 3% from the money sent abroad by expatriates were collected as remittance tax.
Furthermore, there have been reports of several expatriates attempting to send money without following protocol. However, any individual found violating the remittance tax regulations were fined for an equivalent amount of their tax deductibles.
According to statistics from Maldives Monetary Authority, a total of USD531.7 million was transferred to the home countries of expatriates in 2018.