Detailing the economic impact of Covid-19 as the reason why tax revenue recorded for January 2021 was lesser than that recorded for January 2020, MIRA noted that economic activities had decreased in the Maldives as fewer tourists had visited the country amid the global pandemic. MIRA explained that this had resulted in a significant decrease in the tax revenue collected by that authority from the tourism sector.

MIRA went on to detail that the revenue collected from Green Tax and the Airport Development Fee had decreased with fewer arrivals into the Maldives. However, the tax authority noted as the tourism industry was slowly recovering following the near-complete halt of last year, more revenue was being collected through Tourism goods and services tax (TGST).

Of the MVR 1.79 billion collected by MIRA as revenue in January, 43 percent correspond to revenue collected from income tax, which amounts to MVR 777.6 million. TGST was the second biggest source of income for MIRA in January 2021, contributing 41 percent, equivalent to MVR 743.6 million. In addition to this, MIRA collected MVR 57.35 million (3.2 percent) in TGST revenue, MVR 52.34 (2.9 percent) in Tourism Land Rent, MVR 45.57 million (2.5 percent) in Business Profit Tax and an additional MVR 123.35 million (6.9 percent) in other taxes and fees.

MIRA's revenue for January 2021 also includes USD 46.01 million, which pushes the total revenue collected by the tax authority in the first month of this year up to MVR 1.79 billion.

MIRA requests all those seeking their services to opt for their online and digital service options in light of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, with changes having been brought to the opening hours of their Taxpayer Service Center and Hulhumale' Tax Collection Center, in addition to the procedure for issuing tokens, which will now be conducted through the MIRA mobile app and the QueueBee application.