MRA e-newsletter. MRA hosts Post Clearance Audit (PCA) Workshop. Editor s Note. In this issue...

Transcription

1 MRA e-newsletter Mauritius Revenue Authority November 2016 MRA hosts Post Clearance Audit (PCA) Workshop The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) hosted the Workshop on Post Clearance Audit (PCA) for the East & Southern Africa Region from Monday 28 th November to Friday 02 nd December 2016 at the seat of the WCOESA Multilingual Regional Training Centre Mauritius (RTC). The Workshop was organised by the WCO with the sponsorship of the Japanese Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF/Japan). Some twenty five (25) delegates from eighteen (18) different countries from the East and Southern Africa Region, that is, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Malawi, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe participated in the workshop. Three officers from the Customs Department also participated in the Workshop. Editor s Note Dear Readers, As per its tradition, the MRA celebrated the Annual Prayer at the Mariamen Kovil, Albion Dock Port Louis during the month of November. The prayer is an annual feature and the number of devotees turning out at the kovil symbolises its importance in MRA s calendar of activities. The WCO Regional Training Centre, based at the MRA Custom House, also hosted a couple of workshops during the month of November. Last but not least, the winners of the E-Filing and VLDS 3 rd Quarter Draw were awarded their respective prizes at the MRA Head Office in the first half of November. The MRA thanks taxpayers for their usual support. In this issue... The workshop was facilitated by three WCO PCA Accredited Experts namely Mr Jun Tajima, Technical Attaché, from WCO, Brussels, Mr. Rainer Neppl, Senior Customs Auditor from Germany and Mr. Cranston Valentino Evans, Senior Customs/ Revenue Officer from Bahamas. MRA provided all logistical facilities, as well as ground transportation to all the participants of the workshop. The workshop was conducted in English with French interpretation. The objective of this workshop was to assist the Administrations in the Region to implement PCA more effectively in accordance with the WCO PCA Guidelines, including the risk management cycle and case studies to enhance participants technical knowledge. taxpayerservices@mra.mu twitter.com/mra_services

2 Regional Training Centre (RTC) Heads Meeting During the Regional Training Centre (RTC) Heads Meeting held from Thursday 03 rd to Friday 04 th November 2016, three Heads out of the four RTC s in the East and Southern African Regions, namely South Africa, Kenya and Mauritius were present. Apologies were received from RTC, Zimbabwe. Mr V. Ramnundun, Director, HRTD, represented the RTC (Mauritius). Discussions took place regarding the Regional Strategy and Implementation Plans for the period 2012 to 2017 and the new strategy. Forthcoming trainings/workshops for the WCO ESA region were also taken on board. 25 th Regional Steering Group (RSG) Meeting The Regional Steering Group (RSG) Meeting was held from Monday 07 th to Wednesday 09 th November 2016 at the Regional Training Centre, Custom House. Twenty-five delegates from eleven African countries namely Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa and Swaziland attended the meeting. Mauritius was represented by two Team Leaders from the Customs Department. The meeting was held in English with French and Portuguese interpretation. The aim of the meeting was to discuss about pertinent issues related to Customs such as Time Release Study, Trade Facilitation, Digital Customs, Security on Advance Passenger and Cargo Information, Customs-Tax Cooperation amongst others. Discussions also took place on the Reports of the Finance & Audit Committee. The delegates present for the RSG also attended the Regional Strategy Meeting held from 10 to 11 November During this meeting, discussions focused mainly on the Regional Strategy and Implementation Plan for the ESA Region for 2017 onwards. 2

3 Regional Strategy Meeting The Regional Training Centre (Mauritius) hosted the World Customs Organisation East and Southern Africa (WCO ESA) RTC Heads, the Regional Steering Group and the Regional Strategy Meeting, which were back to back from 03 to 04 November 2016, 07 to 09 November 2016 and 10 to 11 November 2016, respectively. Mr L. Liza, Director, Regional Office of Capacity Building (ROCB), Ms F. Mosongo, Programme Officer, ROCB, Mr P. Gyan, Regional Development Manager for Capacity Building, WCO ESA Region, Mr S. Dinis, Technical Attaché, WCO as well as Ms R. Passi, Project Manager, WCO, were present for the above meetings. Double Taxation Agreement with The Republic of The Gambia The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) received a delegation from Gambia for the negotiation of a Convention for the Elimination of Double Taxation with respect to Taxes on Income and the Prevention of Tax Evasion and Avoidance between the Republic of Mauritius and The Republic of The Gambia. The discussions were held from Thursday 03 rd November 2016 to Friday 04 th November 2016 at the MRA Head Office and were carried out in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and cooperation. The Mauritian delegation was headed by Mr. Mario Hannelas, Director, Large Taxpayers Department, MRA and the Gambian delegation was led by Mr. Essa Jallow, Deputy Commissioner General & Head of Domestic Taxes, Gambia Revenue Authority. At the close of the negotiations, there was full agreement on all the provisions of the draft Convention and both delegations agreed to complete their internal formalities for the entry into force of the Convention at the earliest. 3

4 MEXA - Workshop on Budgetary Measures The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA), in collaboration with the Mauritius Export Association (MEXA) organised a workshop on the new budgetary measures at Gold Crest Hotel, Quatre Bornes on Tuesday 08 th November The aim of the session was to sensitise stakeholders of the export sector on the changes brought to the Finance Act, following the Budgetary Speech. The MRA resource persons were Mr. M. Hannelas, Director Large Taxpayer Department (LTD), Mr. D. Seetloo, Section Head LTD, Mr. M. Oozeer, Section Head Operational Services Department (OSD) and Mr. N. Tacouri, Section Head Medium and Small Taxpayer Department (MSTD). The response from the audience was positive and the question and answer session concluded the workshop. 4

5 MRA Annual Prayer The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) organized its Annual Prayer on Thursday 17 th November 2016 at the Mariamen Kovil, Albion Dock, at Port Louis. The religious event saw the participation of MRA staff, irrespective of grade, department, religious belief and age. The official ceremony began with devotional songs, in the presence of the Director-General of the MRA, Mr. Sudhamo Lal, Aaya Deven Sungelee the Officiating Priest, members of the Management Team, members of the MRA Staff Association, MRA staff and members of the public. During his address, the Director-General emphasized that although the task of collecting revenue is a challenging one, the MRA staff are blessed with the opportunity to serve the Nation. He further stressed that there is no substitute to hardwork, and it is the duty of the MRA staff to work ethically, to treat all members of the public with respect, dignity, and to never collect more revenue than is due. The Director-General concluded by thanking the Organising Committee for the success of the MRA Annual Prayer. Common Reporting Standard Training Session On the 30 th of November 2016, the International Taxation Section (ITS) which falls under the aegis of the Large Taxpayers Department of the MRA, conducted an Interactive Training Session on the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for the staff of the Mauritius Commercial Bank. The session which lasted for two and a half hours was held at the MCB Building in St Jean and was run by Mrs. Toofanee, Team Leader and officers of the FATCA/CRS Unit namely, Mr. Harnamsing, Ms. Pathel, Ms. Chiniah and Ms. Eustasie. The aim of the workshop was to provide an overview of the Guidance Notes issued by the MRA on the implementation of CRS and to address specific issues related to the banking sector. Around 70 persons followed the session and they were mainly managers and officers from the Private Banking and Compliance Department. 5

6 MRA Rewards e-filing & VLDS Winners The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) hosted a prize giving ceremony on 16 th November 2016 at its Head Office, during which the winners of the e-filing and VAT Lucky Draw Scheme (VLDS) were awarded their respective prizes. The Director-General of the MRA, Mr. Sudhamo Lal, thanked the winners of both draws and underlined that the the MRA has reached an unprecedented 99% of e-filers this year during the Income Tax Filing Season. He further added that the VLDS, winner of the Innovation Award at African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), has helped to bring several cases of fraud related to the VAT to light. He concluded that both the e-filing and the VLDS will be pursued as they assist in optimising revenue collection. The Grand Winner of the e-filing draw is Mr. Kathan Ricardo Jean Antoine and he won Rs 50,000. On the other hand, Mrs Nidhi Peerthy won the first prize of the 3 rd Quarter draw of the VLDS Both cheques were handed over to the winners by the Director-General of the MRA. VLDS Sensitization Campaign The MRA is intensifying its sensitization campaign on the VAT Lucky Draw Scheme (VLDS) in order to educate members of the public on the importance of claiming a receipt for all purchases made from a VAT registered business/person and at the same time encouraging them to participate in MRA s Vat Lucky Draw Scheme (VLDS) where they can win cash prizes ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5, In this context, two PR campaigns on the VLDS were organized in November 2016 at Trianon Shopping Park on Saturday 12 th and Sunday 13 th and at Flacq Coeur de Ville, on Saturday 26 th and Sunday 27 th respectively. At both locations, members of the public responded positively to the PR campaigns and more than one thousand VLDS entries were recorded. In addition, around seven hundred persons who could not participate in the VLDS for various reasons were given explanations on how to participate in the VLDS and flyers were distributed to them for more details. During the PR campaigns on VLDS at the two shopping centres, the traders too were briefed on the necessity of issuing proper invoices to their customers which contain all the details as per the relevant legislations. The traders who are VAT registered were informed on the obligation for them to affix their VAT Registration certificates. Hence, a total of one hundred and sixty four shops were visited and sensitized during the two PR campaigns. More campaigns are scheduled in the month of December 2016 at other shopping malls in order to help inculcate a tax culture among members of the public.

7 FMSC Athletics Meet Twenty staff from the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) participated in the FMSC Athletics Meet held on Friday 04 th and Sunday 06 th November at the Germain Comarmond Stadium, Bambous. The MRA reaped with the following rewards. Surname Name Post Department Category Reward JHUMUCK Jaykrishna Customs Officer I Customs H1- Poids Silver Medal CHATEAU Louis Dominique Didier Technical Officer Internal Affairs H3- Disque Silver Medal LARCHE Isanie Customs Officer I Customs Dames OPEN- Disque Silver Medal QUEDOU Keshika Gupta Trainee Customs Officer 1 Customs D2-1500m Silver Medal MOOTIEN Pamela Gladys Technical Officer Customs D3-200m Bronze Medal RAMLUCHUMUN Avina-Kimi Shabnum Trainee Customs Officer 1 Customs D1- Poids Bronze Medal RAMLUCHUMUN Ghanshiam Customs Officer I Customs H3-100m Bronze Medal LARCHE Isanie Customs Officer I Customs Silver Medal Trainee Customs QUEDOU Keshika Gupta Customs Silver Medal Officer 1 Relais- 4x80m MOOTIEN Pamela Gladys Technical Officer Customs Silver Medal SONNAGEE Nassika Anandee Bint Customs Officer I Customs Silver Medal At the end of the two-days meeting, the MRA was ranked at the 6 th place in this tournament. 7