Maldives: MIRA celebrates 13 years in service
Maldives Inland Revenue Authority celebrated 13th Anniversary, symbolizing a transformative journey towards modernization and digitalization of tax administration in the Maldives. Since the establishment of MIRA in 2010, MIRA has been working to strengthen the primary functions and increase collection and compliance. However, over the past few years, this approach has undergone through a substantial evolution due to the increase in efforts to create tax transparency, availability of financial data, and exchange of information prompting MIRA to move from an adversarial approach to a more collaborative approach.
As envisaged today, MIRA is working towards establishing a completely digitized, automated tax administration which is driven by data automatically streamed from the taxpayer for assessing risk, audit, dispute, and other processes.
Embracing the Digital Age:
This year’s anniversary theme of “Embracing the Digital Age” reflects the shift MIRA aims to make from traditional methods to contemporary digital solutions. MIRA has committed to enhancing its digital platforms and introducing a range of new features, as part of a wider strategy to streamline the tax administration process.
One of the key milestones in the progress is the recent unveiling of MIRA’s official website and mobile application, indicative of the strides made in digital tax administration. The new website was launched on 18th January with new live chat functions and easier navigation tabs. Taxpayers can now complete and submit all MIRA forms through the website. Further, MIRA has also included interactive guides to provide easy access to important tax information and to facilitate taxpayers in completing tax related arrangements.
The new mobile application also provide access to many of the services of MIRA’s online portal 'MIRAconnect' for filing and payment of tax returns and ‘VaaruPay’, an online portal for accepting other taxes and fees accepted by MIRA. This application allows taxpayers to identify important tax deadlines and send reminders to phone calendar. In addition, token numbers can be taken and appointments and information sessions for tax related information can be requested for through this application.
Further, MIRA is working on a digital transformation project with development partners to establish a digital transformation roadmap and respond to the changing technological landscape to meet the expectations of taxpayers, as well as to maintain security and improve efficiency. Additionally, MIRA aims to simply the audit process and merging and centralizing the case management system to create a dedicated data warehouse and automate the data analytics process.
As MIRA embarks on this new phase of our journey of embracing the digital age, MIRA intends to enhance efficiency of services through innovative strategies and mechanisms.
By - Rauha Rasheed, Senior Tax Officer, International Relations & Cooperation