Welcome to the Maldives Tax Newsletter where you will find highlights from national developments in tax law and policy. This month marks the first anniversary of our newsletter and we thank you for your continued support and readership.

Image depicting golden sun rays reflected in the blue ocean

Tax News

Tax Appeal Tribunal Welcomes New Members

On 13 October, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu appointed the following members to the Tax Appeal Tribunal (Tribunal):

Uz. Ibrahim Afeef
Uza. Shaufa Ibrahim

Additionally, Mr. Hassan Zuhair Mohamed was elected as President and Uza. Shifza Abdul Qayyoom was elected as Vice-President after a vote amongst the Tribunal’s members.

Tax Policy

Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) Amends Enforcement Policies

On 22 October, MIRA published amendments to the following enforcement policies:

Tax Cases

Noomadi Resorts Private Limited v MIRA [TAT-CA-B/2024/001]

On 30 October, the Tax Appeal Tribunal passed its judgement in Noomadi Resorts Private Limited v MIRA [TAT-CA-B/2024/001]. The Tribunal held, inter alia, the following:

As MIRA had not conducted a comparability analysis in line with OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines, MIRA has not been able to prove that the related-party loan transaction was not at arm’s length.

Red Wave Private Limited v MIRA [TAT-CA-B/2023/013]

On 07 October, the Tax Appeal Tribunal passed its judgement in Red Wave Private Limited v MIRA [TAT-CA-B/2023/013]. The Tribunal held, inter alia, the following:

MIRA did not follow the third party document request notice procedure set out in Section 32(a) of the Tax Administration Act before using customs data to calculate the cost of sales in the disputed case.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this first anniversary edition of our newsletter. After thirteen monthly editions, we are bringing the Maldives Tax Newsletter to a close. We are grateful to our readers, particularly our colleagues in the tax and legal community, for your support and engagement throughout the past year. As we refocus our resources, the newsletter archive will remain available on our website as a reference for tax developments from October 2024 to October 2025.

If you have any questions or would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.