(THAI BUSINESS ASSOCIATION OF MYANMAR)

www.tbam1997.com

AUTHOR: SWE LEI MON

With the goal of making tax payments easier for taxpayers and encouraging people to pay taxes, the government has been implementing the online payment system since 2014, Daw Khine Shwe War, the Deputy Director General of the Central Bank of Myanmar, once said in a meeting at the Ministry of Commerce.

The announcement of the Internal Revenue Department said that both taxpayers using SAS (Self-Assessment System) –the method of assessment where taxpayers assess themselves on the income, they have received or have accrued and to pay the tax which they calculate on this income—and the companies registered at MyCO (Myanmar Companies Online) can pay taxes through online starting in February.

Taxpayers used to pay their due via state-owned Myanmar Economic Bank (MEB) before, if they did not want to go by themselves to the sub-departments of townships under the Internal Revenue Department.

In fact, the businesses in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone at the outskirts of Yangon have been using the MPU payment system for paying taxes since 2017, when government allowed the online taxpayment as a first phrase.

First, taxpayers and companies need to apply for Corporate Debit Card, they can use this only for paying taxes. They can apply for the card at a member bank of the Myanmar Payment Union providing necessary paperwork of the Internal Revenue Department.

If you want to pay your due taxes online by using MPU debit card, first you will need go to the website of the Internal Revenue Department (www.irdmyanmar.gov.mm), click the text “Start Your Tax Online Payment”and fill out the form. After filling the form, click the “CONFIRM”button.

The maximum amount in one transaction is K5 billion, and the banks will charge a service fee of K1,000 for every transaction, according to the announcement.

Experts believe that using the online taxpayment system will make all tax payments go directly to the state fund, this will improve the efficiency of the system as well as reduce the chance for corruption.