Taxation

As a developing jurisdiction, Myanmar’s tax laws and practices are often subject to review and amendment. At the same time, tax compliance practices remain frequently opaque. We take away the pain of navigating Myanmar’s tax regulations by providing a full suite of outsourced tax compliance services for our clients.

Commercial Tax registration: Commercial tax is essentially a form of value-added tax. Any entity that undertakes production or provides goods or services must register for commercial tax with the relevant section of the Myanmar Internal Revenue Department (IRD) on commencing business (unless it will only provide goods or services that are exempted from commercial tax (e.g. education services)), and renew this registration annually. We can prepare and file with the IRD all documents required for a company’s initial commercial tax registration and annual renewal of its registration.

Filing and payment of Commercial Tax and off-setting claims: Commercial tax payers must make filings and payments on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis. We can prepare and file all documents required for periodic commercial tax returns, including commercial tax off-setting claims where available – and liaise with the IRD to obtain final assessments on annual commercial tax returns. We can also assist with making payment of monthly commercial tax to the relevant government bank and obtaining payment receipts/challans.

Filing and payment of Corporate Income Tax: Companies with taxable income are required to self-assess their corporate income tax liability on a quarterly and annual basis, and make advance payments of self-assessed corporate income tax. We can prepare and file all documents required for periodic corporate income tax returns – and liaise with the IRD to obtain final assessments on annual corporate income tax returns. We can also assist with making corporate income tax payments to the relevant government bank and obtaining payment receipts/challans.

Audit support: Certain audit exemptions apply under Myanmar companies law, and provisional annual tax returns can initially be filed based on an unaudited statement of profit and loss and balance sheet only. However, the IRD expects annual corporate income tax returns for most companies to be based on, and supported by, audited financial statements. In practice, most companies therefore need to undertake a full annual audit and submit audited financial statements to the IRD. While we do not provide direct audit services, we can manage the audit process by handling all auditor liaison and information requests on your behalf. We can work with your existing auditor or provide referrals to experienced and reasonably priced Myanmar auditors with whom we regularly work.

Employee Personal Income Tax: Withholding and remittance employee personal income tax (PIT) in Myanmar is the responsibility of the employer. We can assist with the notifying the local office of the IRD regarding the appointment of new employees in order to facilitate the payment of employee personal income tax. And we can calculate all employee PIT and prepare and file employee PIT returns on a monthly and annual basis . We can also assist with making payments of PIT at the relevant government bank.