The President Ratifies 12th Amendment Brought To The Tourism Act Of Maldives

On Wednesday, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ratified the 12^th amendment brought to the Maldives Tourism Act (Act No. 2/99). The amendment was passed by the Parliament of Maldives on the 16^th sitting of its third session held on the same day.

As per the new amendment, Green Tax will be immediately in effect starting from yesterday. Green tax is a tax imposed on all tourists staying at a tourist establishment in the Maldives. Prior to the amendment, the 11^th amendment brought to the Act dictated that the Green tax will be levied starting from 1^st January 2023. However, the new amendment has preponed the date.

In addition to this, the 12^th amendment mandates that tourism facilities that continued Green Tax collection since the ratification of the 11^th amendment must file their tax returns and pay the tax to the State except if the taxes were already reimbursed to the tax payer. Moreover, the amendment also stipulated Green Tax collected from individuals outside the domain of law as well as tax payments that exceeded the set values must be paid in full to the State unless reimbursed to tax payer.