Internal Revenue Department will reward those who provide the information on establishments that fail to pay commercial taxes

The government is raising its efforts to collect taxes from commercial enterprises. Last week, the Internal Revenue Department said it will reward those who provide information on establishments that fail to collect commercial taxes, according to state media.

Under the law, consumers who buy goods and services in Myanmar are liable to pay commercial taxes. This will be included in the total bill presented by the goods or service provider. The customer will be given a receipt affixed with official tax stamps, signifying that commercial taxes have been paid on the transaction. The commercial taxes will be collected by or remitted to the government.

The goods and service providers include restaurants, hotels and jewelry shops, among others.  

Should a customer not be presented with a receipt or if the receipt is not affixed with the appropriate tax stamps, he or she can lodge a complaint with the IRD in exchange fore rewards ranging between K20,000 and K100,000. Informants’ identities will not be revealed. 

“So far, the government has not been able to collect the full amount of commercial taxes owing to some establishments not complying with the regulations. Besides the reward system, they should also review the tax collection procedures to make sure they collect the right amount of commercial taxes,” said Daw Mya Hla San, MP from Kyauktada township.

Gold and jewelry shops have been among those that have not complied with the commercial tax regulations. As some shops provide discounts to their customers, the tax stamps are sometimes not included in the receipts even though these vendors still remit the correct amount of taxes to the IRD. 

‘’According to the documents of 2016-17, we found that 2,265 shops failed to include the tax stamps on their receipts to customers. The responsible department should monitor those shops and take action if and when customers complain,” said U Kyaw Kyaw Htun, MP from Hlaing township.

Goods and service providers which fail to affix the stamps and are subject of customer complaints to the IRD, will be fined K200,000 for the first offence, K500,000 for the second offence and K700,000 thereafter.

(The Myanmar Times: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/ird-will-reward-those-who-lodge-complaints-businesses-fail-pay-tax.html )

​