Mauritius Revenue Authority E-Newsletter. Vol 13 - January 2009...Services Redefined...Changing the mindset...Partners in progress...

 

 

The second Annual Report of the MRA encapsulates its achievement during 2007/08. It highlights MRA’s performance in diverse areas including revenue collections, efficiency and effectiveness, customer service, corporate governance and corporate image. It includes MRA’s financial statements duly audited by the Director of Audit.

The Report reveals that revenue collected by the MRA during the year amounted to Rs 42 billion which represents a 23% increase over the preceding year and a 10% increase over the budgetary estimates for the current year. Collections under all major sources of revenue, excluding excise duties, have registered a double digit growth. VAT and corporate tax receipts were Rs 1,358 million and Rs 739 million above target. Similarly, receipts under Tax Deduction at Source, Personal Income Tax and Customs Duties exceeded their target by Rs 570 million, Rs 420 million and Rs 386 million respectively.

 

To ensure efficiency and effectiveness in revenue administration, MRA focused on three key areas as per the Report, i.e. prompt issue of income tax refunds and VAT repayments, debt management and electronic filing of returns.

Issuing refunds within 3 months in 89% of cases and effecting VAT repayments within 7 days to export enterprises represent MRA’s commitment to provide high quality service to taxpayers. Similarly, a more than 150% increase in the number of returns filed electronically by small taxpayers, receipt of 4,000 electronic annual PAYE returns from employers and an increase in the amount collected electronically by 23% from Rs 14.4 billion in 2006-07 to Rs 17.8 billion in 2007-08 shows MRA’s efforts to streamline its operations with the overall strategy of facilitating business.

As regards debt management, the MRA collected Rs 1.2 billion of unpaid taxes in FY 2007-08, including an amount of Rs 515 million under VDIS and Rs 114 million under TAPIS.

The Report further adds that during the year significant efforts were made to enhance the delivery of customer service to our stakeholders with the overall objective of promoting voluntary compliance. A three-pronged approach consisting of taxpayer education, high quality customer care and effective communication with taxpayers was adopted. Conducting educational seminars, publishing taxpayer leaflets/brochures, simplifying forms, organizing FITA and implementing trade facilitation projects of Customs were some of the concrete achievements of MRA in this area.

In the field of communication, frequent updating of website, issuing monthly e-newsletters, taxpayer mailing service and extensive communication through the mass media have been MRA’s hallmarks during the year.

The Annual Report of the MRA also depicts the pivotal role played by support departments in improving the organisational performance such as:-
(a) implementing an effective training and professional development strategy;
(b) analysing monthly revenue performance, conducting sector-based studies to assist compliance departments in raising assessments;
(c) setting up the Documentation Centre;
(d) restricting the cost of revenue collections to less than 2% of revenue receipts; and
(e) installing the Standard Application Product (SAP) software, thus laying the platform for operationalising the Integrated Tax Administration Solution (ITAS).

In their drive to improve corporate governance and corporate image of the MRA, significant efforts were made by the Internal Affairs and Internal Audit Division to improve internal systems and staff integrity. Various core and sensitive areas were audited, staff were trained on expected codes of conduct and ethics whilst cases of malpractices investigated. The MRA Board also set up two dedicated committees to oversee corporate governance at the MRA namely the Corporate Governance Committee and the Audit and Oversight Committee.

Finally, the Report gives a summary of MRA’s performance against all Key Performance Indicators set during the year. The comparison between targets and achievements given in a Tabular form enables the reader to have a bird’s eye view of MRA performance in the light of its objectives and targets set at the beginning of the year.