A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between MRA and SIL was signed by the Director General, MRA, Mr. Sudhamo Lal and the General Manager of State Informatics Limited, Mr. Khemraj Mohee on the 30th of November 2011 at the MRA head office, Ehram Court, Port Louis. The MOU between MRA and SIL will allow both parties to explore new avenues of collaboration and subsequently will provide new opportunities by leveraging technical expertise and domain knowledge of both organizations. Each party agrees to work with the other party in fields of work where mutual cooperation is possible and desirable.

Following a request received from SMEDA, an educational session was carried out at SMEDA Training Centre at Coromandel on 07 November 2011. Mr D.Moorghen (Acting Director of TECD) and Mr C.Lochun (Technical Officer of TECD) conducted the educational session on Income Tax and VAT. Some 10 entrepreneurs attended the session and the presentation on the topics discussed was thereafter sent by e-mail to those persons who were in attendance.

The Information Systems Department of the MRA organised a full-day workshop with SAP AG and State Informatics limited (SIL) on 22nd November 2011.  Three high-profiled SAP representatives from SAP South Africa and Germany gave several presentations, addressing the current and future needs of MRA. The Information Systems Department (ISD) of the MRA presented ITAS, its progress and what is planned in the near future. The problems and issues that MRA staff is having while using Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) were listed out.  Through an interactive session, members present discussed those issues and pertinent suggestions were noted.

Mr Hannes Venter, the Industry Director for the Tax and Revenue Management in the Public Services in the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region, gave a very thorough demonstration of Tax Payers Online Services (TPOS) which is one component of ITAS that will be implemented at MRA starting Jan 2012. TPOS allows a tax payer to register online, file his or her taxes, make payment, Display filing obligations, filing history, and tax assessment notices,  and verify his/her account through the internet from anywhere at any time.  MRA will become the first organisation in the region to implement TPOS.  SIL being the main contractor on the ITAS project, will implement TPOS and the completion date is expected to be around Mid 2012.  Mr Tim Toussaint, the Country Manager in the SAP Africa Region is going to make sure that TPOS will kick-off on the right track with proper logistics.

A Second meeting between accountants and the Director General, MRA , Mr Sudhamo Lal was held on 18th November 2011. Issues discussed during this meeting were Refund of excess tax, Taxation of Difference on Exchange and Taxation of Transfer of Leasehold Rights in State Lands.

- Increase in Income Exemption Threshold

Domah vs MRA (11.11.2011)

In a first ruling delivered by the Assessment Review Committee (ARC) on 29 October 2010, the ARC, after reviewing all the evidence and considering the submissions of the parties concerned, concluded that the appellant, then applicant, had pursuant to section 38 (5) of the Value Added Tax (VAT Act) and section 131A (2) (b) (ii) of the Income Tax Act (IT Act) failed to show that at the relevant material times, he had no means to pay the 30% of tax with respect to VAT and income tax assessments. The representations made by the appellant were accordingly set aside.

Rocket Design Services Ltd v MRA (22.11.2011)

The plaintiff company’s complaint is that as the company no longer fell under section15(4) of the Value Added Tax Act, it made a request for deregistration to the Commissioner forValue Added Tax who, by letter dated 10 May 2000, replied that its request had been turned down and could not be entertained. The plaintiff company appealed against that decision to thethen Tax Appeal Tribunal which in its findings dated 26 December 2002 determined that thedecision of the Commissioner for Value Added Tax was wrong and ordered that the plaintiff company be deregistered.

Ramsoonder v The State (21.11.2011)

The appellant was charged before the District Court of Grand Port with the offence of attempting to evade payment of duty, excise duty or taxesin breach of section158(1)(a) and section 160 of the Customs and Excise Act. She was convicted andsentenced to pay a fine of Rs 144,240 + Rs 100 costs. The law has been wrongly citedin the information since there is no such law as the Customs and Excise Act but a‘Customs Act’. Learned counsel for the respondent informed us at the outset of thehearing that the appeal is not being resisted and the respondent is not supporting thejudgment on the ground that the information is bad for duplicity.

Goolam Hossen Aboobakar Moreea v MRA (14.11.2011)

On 25 August 2008, the Mauritius Revenue Authority (“The Authority”) issued a notice on the appellant pursuant to section 127(3) of the Income Tax Act requiring the appellant to supply information and documents in respect of the years of assessment2001/2002 and 2002/2003. The applicant lodged representations with the Assessment Review Committee(“The Committee”) challenging the request to comply with the notice issued by the Authority.The Committee ruled that the Authority is not entitled to seek information in respect of the year of assessment 2002/2003 but maintained that the applicant isrequired to furnish the information sought in respect of year 2001/2002. The appellant appealed whether “ the Committee was wrong in law in holding that the Authority was entitled to require applicant to furnish information or to produce books and records under section 127(3) of the Income Tax Act (The Act) in relation to the year of assessment 2001/2002 after more than 4 years had elapsed.”

The judges spelt out that :

“ The Committee did not err in law in holding that the authority could require the information and documents in respect of year of 2001/2002 in view of the information which only became available from the appellant in May 2008 and which was to the effect that he had received from Blue Paradise Ltd the sum of Rs 744,310 and not the sum of Rs 84,840 as previously declared by him.”

The judges found :

“ No fault in the decision of the Committee in holding that the authority acted in conformity with section 127(3) when it required the information and documents from the applicant in its notice dated 25 August 2008.”

A Foot Screening Sensitization Programme was organized for the benefit of MRA staff at the respective premises of MRA namely , at the Ehram Court, Custom House, PATS/ SSR Arrival. The aim of this programme was to educate employees about how to identify the numerous foot problems and how to care about their foot.  In this context, two skilled Physiotherapists were present at the seat of the MRA to conduct the ‘Foot Screening’. A one-hour PowerPoint presentation was carried out per day based on the various foot problems and the scientifically proven solutions from 09h30 to 10h30 followed by a  thorough individual foot screening to examine the staff and counselling based on foot care and how to avoid future foot problems till 16hrs00.

A Domino Tournament was organised by the HRTD in collaboration with the Welfare Association on Saturday 19 November 2011 at the Cafeteria, 6th Floor, Custom House. The event was held on a full day basis which started around 09 h30 and ended at 15 00 hrs. Some 75 staff participated in the programme including 23 teams for the competition.

The winners are as follows:

First Prize                   Nageeb Dookhee & Nasser Suneram (Customs)

Second Prize              Nitising Ramchurn & Subash Raumessur (FID)

Third Prize                  Pierre Balbine & Mario Sauterelle (FAD)

The winners have been symbolically rewarded with trophies & medals, The official prize giving ceremony will however be held on the MRA End of Year Get Together.