Mauritius - implements new measures
1. E-FITA: A new facility by MRA to assist taxpayers
It has been the practice for the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) to conduct the Free Income Tax Assistance (FITA) programmes during each filing season to assist individual taxpayers in filing their annual tax return. A taxpayer may call at any of the 16 FITA centres opened for the filing season. This is of paramount importance for voluntary compliance. However, this year’s filing programme which ran from September to mid-October took place under a new scenario as opposed to previous years.
Indeed, similar to many countries worldwide, Mauritius was also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic some months ago and in an effort to maintain safety for both staff and taxpayers, the MRA had put in place some strict sanitary measures. Consequently, the usual FITA program was put on hold this year. But thanks to information technology the MRA replaced the traditional FITA with e-FITA. E-FITA is a new facility put in place by the Authority in assisting taxpayers to meet their filing obligations electronically.
How does it work?
The e-FITA operates as an online interactive session between a taxpayer and the MRA Officer. It works on a smartphone with internet connectivity and the WhatsApp mobile application already installed therein. To avail the facility, a taxpayer first makes a reservation of the date and time convenient to them for the interactive session via the MRA website. To confirm the reservation slot, the taxpayer then has to insert the One-Time Password (OTP) sent on their mobile via an SMS. On the date of reservation, an SMS with a link is sent to the concerned taxpayer some three minutes prior to the start of the virtual interactive session. When the taxpayer clicks on the link as provided, they will get into direct communication with a MRA Officer who will be assisting them in filing the tax return via WhatsApp Video Call. It needs to be mentioned that to help taxpayers in understanding the new facility, a video clip showing how the system operates was posted on the MRA website.
2. Recent COVID-19 measures
In view of mitigating the cash flow problems that taxpayers may be facing in this difficult post-COVID-19 period, the following measures have recently been introduced:
(a) Deferment in the quarterly payment of tax.
The quarterly submission of Advance Payment System (APS) statement and payment of tax, if any, by companies which fall due between November 2020 and May 2021 has been deferred to 28 June 2021. Similarly, self-employed individuals have no obligation to submit their quarterly Current Payment System (CPS) statement for the fiscal year 2020/21. Any tax payable will be paid at the time of submission of the annual income tax returns in September/October 2021.
(b) Tax Arrears Settlement Scheme
This Scheme applies to taxpayers with tax outstanding as at 31 October 2020 under an assessment or return. A taxpayer who joins the Scheme on or before 30 June 2021 and settles the tax due by 31 December 2021, will be provided with full waiver of penalty and interest. Taxpayers who have appealed their cases may also take advantage of the Scheme provided they withdraw their cases before the Assessment Review Committee, the Supreme Court or Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt created a downturn in the Mauritian economy and this has impacted directly on the financials of the business community. The above-mentioned measures will ease the doing of business in Mauritius.