The Internal Revenue Department (“IRD”) recently issued an announcement (under LTO letter No. 5274 dated 9 May 2018) stating that banks and financial institutions must adopt the new financial year for reporting purposes (i.e., starting 1 October 2018), in order to come into alignment with the Central Bank of Myanmar’s (“CBM”) new reporting requirements.
Our understanding of this Announcement is as below:
| Financial year | Covered period | Comment |
| FY 2017-2018 | 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018 | Same reporting requirements. Annual income tax and commercial tax is due on 30 June (extended to 2 July as per the recent IRD announcement). |
| FY 2018 | 1 April 2018 to 30 September 2018 |
This is the six-month transitional period in which to come into alignment with the Government’s new budget year and to be consistent with the CBM reporting requirements per Letter No. 2224 issued on 30 March 2018. Following this, banks and financial institutions must close their accounts for the six months period as stated in the CBM instruction. Currently, the transition procedures particularly for tax reporting are not clearly stated and outlined in any existing tax announcements or notifications from the IRD. |
| FY 2018-2019 | 1 October 2018 to 30 September 2019 | This is the new financial year that is consistent with Myanmar’s new budget year. |
From the above, banks, financial institutions, and state-owned enterprises will adopt the new financial year of reporting (beginning 1 October 2018). All private companies other than banks, financial institutions, and state-owned enterprises will stay with the current financial year of reporting (i.e. 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019).
Contacts
Jack Sheehan
Partner,
Head of Regional Tax Practice
jack.sheehan@dfdl.com
Diberjohn Balinas
Tax Manager,
Myanmar
diberjohn.balinas@dfdl.com
The information provided here is for information purposes only, and is not intended to constitute legal advice. Legal advice should be obtained from qualified legal counsel for all specific situations.
