Mauritius: MRA introduces online application facility for the Tax Arrears Settlement Scheme, and other news.

The Finance Act 2022 which was enacted on 2 August 2022 gave force amongst others for the re-introduction of the Tax Arrears Settlement Scheme (TASS). This Scheme provides for 100 percent waiver of penalties and interests on tax arrears outstanding as at 7 June 2022 provided that an application for the waiver is made to the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) on or before 31 December 2022 and all the arrears are settled on or before 31 March 2023.

Taxpayers having assessments pending before the Assessment Review Committee (ARC), the Supreme Court or Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, also avail of the Scheme, but only after having withdrawn their appeals before these institutions.

To avoid tax debtors with all the hassles in filing a paper application form to join TASS, the MRA recently introduced an online application facility for TASS. This online facility is available on the MRA website and a taxpayer can securely apply for TASS by using his/her user identification and an automatically generated one time password sent on the mobile number as provided.

This new facility which adds to the existing list of e-services provided by the MRA is another step forward in making the tax authority a paperless organization.

The MRA’s Taxpayer Satisfaction Survey draw

It is now an annual feature for the MRA to obtain feedback from individual taxpayers during the tax filing season about the standard of its tax administration services and this takes place by virtue of an electronic Taxpayer Satisfaction Survey.

It is the belief at the MRA that over and above being an effective tool for gauging the taxpayers’ satisfaction, conducting regular Taxpayer Satisfaction Survey is also a means to monitor trends in public confidence in the tax administration. The E-Taxpayer Satisfaction Survey which may seem a new initiative in the tax administration arena at the MRA dates back to the year 2017 and it has been made to coincide with the tax filing season to tap for a large number of respondents given that more than 200,000 individuals use the MRA website to submit their returns electronically during that period of time.

As an incentive to participate in the survey, the MRA has been offering participants the chance to win any one of the 3 cash prizes of Rs 25,000, Rs15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively, with winners being selected after a draw. More than as an incentive, the cash prizes are also seen as a reward for those complying with their tax filing and payment obligations.

The draw of this year’s online Taxpayer Satisfaction Survey 2022 was effected at the seat of the MRA on 28 October 2022, under the supervision of the Gambling Regulatory Authority. The three winners were known and they will soon be collecting their prizes at the MRA.

The ratings obtained from the survey are actually being analyzed. Through the survey, the Authority has also received obtain numerous suggestions and which will duly be considered.

Ongoing AEOI Confidentiality and Data Safeguard Assessment for Mauritius

An assessment team comprising of 2 officials of the Global Forum Secretariat and 2 ISM (Information Security Management) assessors was present at the seat of the Mauritius Revenue Authority from on 11 and 12 October 2022 for an on-site visit.  This physical visit was in line with Mauritius undergoing a post-exchange confidentiality and data safeguard assessment to ensure that information exchanged under CRS is kept confidential and properly safeguarded.

This visit involved the participation and coordination of several departments of the MRA whereby presentations were made and queries raised by the assessment team were attended to.  The team also visited the EOI (Exchange of Information) unit, MRA Data Centre and the physical security zones.

The assessors were satisfied with the presentations, information, procedure documents and clarifications provided to them.  The draft report for Mauritius on Confidentiality and Data Safeguard will be updated by the Global Forum based on the findings of the onsite visit and will be shared with the MRA in due course.