Welcome to the Maldives Tax Newsletter where you will find highlights from national developments in tax law and policy.

Tax News

Maldives Hosts the Eighth High-level Meeting of the Asia Initiative

From 26 to 28 May, the Maldives hosted the Eighth High-level Meeting of the Asia Initiative. The meeting was hosted and co-chaired by the Commissioner General of Taxation, Mr. Hassan Zareer. The Asia Initiative was established to foster regional cooperation in maintaining tax transparency standards across Asia. Attendance included 95 participants from 12 of the 17 member jurisdictions, 4 partners and 3 observers. A key highlight was the publication of the Tax Transparency in Asia 2025: Asia Initiative Progress Report.

Maldives and Hong Kong sign Double Tax Agreement

On 26 May, Maldives and Hong Kong signed a Double Tax Agreement on the margins of the Eighth High-level Meeting of the Asia Initiative. The purpose of the agreement is to eliminate double taxation and prevent tax evasion and avoidance. The agreement will enter into force after the completion of domestic ratification procedures.

Tax Cases

High Court of Maldives Rejects Injunction Order Application to Stay Tax Appeal Tribunal Cases

On 26 May, High Court of Maldives denied the appellant an injunction in the case of I & T Management Private Limited v Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) [2023/HC-A/169] in a 2-1 decision. The appellant had requested to stay the ongoing cases before the Tax Appeal Tribunal regarding a tax audit conducted for tax years 2018 and 2019 until the conclusion of the High Court case which related to tax years 2016 and 2017. The appellant argued that the cases ongoing before the Tax Appeal Tribunal and High Court concerned the same issue. The Court denied granting an injunction based primarily on the following reasons:

The appellant had not submitted any evidence showing the material impact that a decision in the ongoing High Court case will have on the ongoing Tribunal cases.
The appellant had not been able to clearly establish the relationship between the cases through its submissions.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this edition of our newsletter. We hope you found the updates valuable. If you have any questions or would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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