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Myanmar: More than K400 million in gold tax collected in three months
The government has collected more than K400 million in tax revenues in the three months since implementing a new gold tax on jewelry stores, said U Aung Moe, Deputy Director of Internal Revenue Department (Mandalay) on October 3.
According to the statistics of Internal Revenue Tax Department, the tax money received from July, the period where the tax levying began, to last week of September, was K 455 million and the value of gold tax stamps sold to relevant jewelry stores was K 993 million.
“More than K 400 million was received in three months since the tax began. This was in spite of some difficulties in levying the tax. We had to educate people about the new tax,” he said.
“At our shop, we had a lot of explaining to do to buyers about the tax. As most villagers don’t know about the tax, they wouldn’t want to pay for it. We had to explain tothem that it is levied by government,” said Daw Hnin Hnin Oo, Manager of a jewellery store in Mandalay.
Although more than K 400 million was received from gold tax, there are still some stores which do not include the tax stamp in their invoices to customers. These stores will be fined for failing to do so.
“During random inspections, we found five stores which did not include gold tax stamps in their invoice. They have been fined and it is not the only punishment. The stores which fail to pay taxes will be announced on the national newspaper,” said U Aung Moe.
The fine for stores failing to include the gold tax stamp in their invoice will be fined K 200,000 for the first time, K 500,000 for the second time and K 700,000 for the third time. “By the fourth time, they will not only be fined K 1 million. Their names will also be announced in national newspaper,” he said.
“There are still some stores which do not include the gold tax stamp in their invoice. This should be implemented more strictly. The main point is to urge the buyers to pay for the tax willingly. If the buyers are willing to pay for the tax, even if the stores sell without gold tax stamps, they would report them,” said Dr Aye Lae Phyu, a local from Mandalay.
Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/more-k400-million-gold-tax-collected-three-months.html