Company A submitted its tax return for the Year of Assessment 2015/16 by the deadline of September 2015.
It received an information notice from the Mauritius Revenue Authority (“MRA”) in respect of the Year of Assessment 2015/16 in September 2017.
The company provided part of the information to the MRA and the MRA requested further details where needed. The process culminated in a meeting in June 2019 with the MRA officers, a representative of the company and a member of our team. During the meeting, both parties agreed in principle to adjustments to the income and expenses of the company in respect of that year of assessment. The adjustments led to additional tax payable, albeit less than the MRA contended.
However the directors of the company received the assessment from the MRA by email on 2 July 2019. The legislation states that the MRA must give written notice of an assessment to a taxpayer within 3 years of the year of assessment in dispute. In this case, the assessment for Year of Assessment 2015/16 should have been raised by 30 June 2019.
By virtue of the fact that the email from the MRA was on 2 July 2019 (even if the letter attached to the email was dated 28 June 2019), we argued that the MRA was out of time to issue the assessment as it should have given the taxpayer written notice by 30 June 2019. The MRA agreed and the assessment was cancelled, thereby leading to a tax savings for the company.
The MRA are extremely diligent in their application of the tax rules for both taxpayers and themselves. It is therefore worthwhile checking the details that may appear mundane and we can assist you with this.
