MIRA Publishes New Income Tax Guide on Director’s Current Account Debit Balances
Directors of a company are statutorily classified as employees for income tax purposes. As a result, all forms of compensation including benefits in kind provided to directors are considered as part of taxable remuneration that must be included in computing Employee Withholding Tax (“EWT”).
Consequently, given the frequent financial interactions between companies and their directors, on 16 March 2025, the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (“MIRA”) published an Income Tax Guide on Director’s Current Account Debit Balances (the “Guide”).
This Guide aims to clarify the tax implications associated with various financial transactions involving companies and their directors which is summarised in the below table.
| Transaction | EWT Implications |
| Loans and Advances | The difference between the interest charged by the company and the interest computed based on the ordinary market rate constitutes a taxable benefit for directors, unless the loan or advance satisfies the specific exemption criteria provided to loans under the Income Tax Act 1
(loan exemption criteria is further detailed below). |
| Personal Expenses | If personal expenses covered by a company are repayable by directors, they are treated as a loan and therefore an interest benefit must be recognised as explained above.
Otherwise, they are classified as a direct benefit of directors, contributing to the overall remuneration subject to EWT. |
| Waiver of Loans or Advances | A waived off loan or advance either partially or fully is considered a taxable monetary benefit for the month in which the waiver is effected, similar to salary or allowances paid in money to directors.
An interest benefit also should be calculated at the ordinary market rate up to the point of waiver and regarded as a taxable benefit. |
| Debit Balances | Daily debit balances in a director’s current account are treated as loans or advances. If interest is not charged at the ordinary market rate, the resulting interest benefit must be included in the director’s remuneration for EWT purposes. |
Loan Exemption Criteria
The Income Tax Act grants an exemption from recognising interest benefit on loans or advances given by a company to its employees under the below conditions:
- the loan’s repayment period does not exceed 12 months; and
- the principal loan amount does not exceed MVR50,000.
Importantly, this exemption will cease to apply if there is more than one such loan issued at any given time.
The Guide emphasises that companies claiming the loan interest exemption must maintain records clearly outlining the terms of the loan, including repayment schedules and loan amount.
Failure to provide adequate supporting documentation will result in the interest benefit being treated as taxable income and included in the director’s remuneration.
The Guide also clarifies that each loan or advance will be evaluated individually to assess whether it satisfies the exemption criteria and only one such loan can be outstanding to the director at any given time to qualify for the exemption.
