At the annual press conference of the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) held, yesterday, at its headquarters in Port-Louis, its Director-General, Mr Sudhamo Lal, stressed that after completing 15 years of operations in July 2021, the objective of the MRA in becoming a paperless and cashless organisation, as part of its tax administration reforms, is almost achieved.
Hence, while in financial year 2006/07, only 1,571 individuals (1%) and 607 companies (5%) filed their returns electronically, the MRA was now in receipts of almost 100% of all tax returns electronically. In financial year 2020/21, cash and cheque transactions were 0.2% and 2.5% of gross collections with non-cash collections already at 99.8%, compared to 42% when the MRA started its operations.
The Director-General stated that the trends in MRA Revenue Collections have improved, from Rs 34.2 billion in 2006/07 to reaching a peak of Rs 98.7 billion in 2018/19. For financial year 2020/2021, revenue collection totalled Rs 89.3 billion, a drop of 4.7% compared to the previous year, due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the impact on the tourism sector, he said.
Normally, expounded Mr Lal, large hotels contributed to some Rs 3.2 billion of value-added tax (VAT). However, for financial year 2020-2021, receipts from large hotels amounted to only Rs 128 million and for the same period, the MRA disbursed some Rs 7.1 billion as Government Wage Assistance Scheme and Self-Employed Assistance Scheme to the tourism sector operators. In addition, the direct and indirect impacts of border closure on MRA receipts were at least Rs 7.5 billion compared to a normal year.
The Director-General talked too of the tax assessments being raised by the MRA, which were Rs 964 million in 2006, and are now at 7,600 million, representing a 45% annual average growth. He added that arrears collections have increased by nine-fold from Rs 396 million in 2006 to reach Rs 3,712 million in 2018/19 before the negative impact of COVID-19 cropped in, reducing the amount collected to 1,722 million in 2020-2021.
Moreover, stressed Mr Lal, from a tax collector at its creation in July 2006, the MRA is now both a collector and distributor of revenues. He explained that the scope of operations of the MRA has expanded with the added responsibility for collection of various fees/levies previously collected by other agencies, namely Passenger Fee and Passenger Solidarity Fee (by the Accountant-General), Environment Protection Fee (by the Ministry of Environment), Advertising Structure Fee (by the Local Authorities), and Social Security Contributions (by the Ministry of Social Security).
Also, through its new income support function, the MRA effects the payment of allowances to low income earners through the Negative Income Tax Allowance, Special Allowance, and Salary Compensation to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). “These endeavours have enabled the reduction of inequality of income distribution and tax payments, and ensured vertical equity,” said Mr Lal, extolling the 5th rank of Mauritius worldwide, out of nearly 200 countries, in the Ease of Paying Taxes Index of the World Bank’s Doing Business Survey.
Regarding the Solidarity Levy, 3,300 taxpayers paid Rs 1,176 million in September-October 2020 in their income tax returns; Rs 881 million were already received as Pay as You Earn (PAYE) from August 2020 to June 2021 and the MRA expects to collect between Rs 1.6 to 1.8 billion in September-October 2021 tax returns from salaried persons/self-employed, including on dividends. As for the Contribution Sociale Genéralisée, Rs 5,247 million were collected over the nine-months period of 2020-2021.
According to Mr Lal, the MRA has taken many initiatives to fight money laundering and illegal betting as well as for border control and enforcement measurement, and is collaborating with several organisations for information exchange, investigations and seizures of illegal products. In a bid for transparency, Mr Lal called on the public to make use of the Online Auction Sales System, with sales of products at lesser price being conducted every week.
Finally, the e-Filing of individual returns for the year of assessment 2020-2021 has already started with facility available on www.mra.mu as from 01 September 2021 and the deadline is scheduled for 15 October 2021. The Director-General urged taxpayers who need support for the exercise to reserve a time slot online so that they may get assistance through WhatsApp video calls.
