The use of stamps to collect sale tax from restaurants was initiated as a pilot project in 2014 and was adopted nationwide in April this year. Tax stamps in seven different denominations are currently being sold to restaurants.
About K30 million in fines have been collected from restaurants who have failed to put consumer tax stamps on their receipts, according to an announcement from the Internal Revenue Department (IRD).
This amount has been collected from the beginning of 2015-16 fiscal year (April) until the end of August, with fines taken from 125 restaurants.
“We have fined most of the restaurants already. We asked the restaurants to get the tax stamps from us, but they didn’t use these tax stamps. Consumers and owners both are responsible for this,” U Htin Linn Aung, assistant director of IRD, told Myanmar Business Today.
Restaurants which fail to put tax stamps on receipts face warnings the first time, a K500,000 fine the second time and a K 700,000 fine for the third time, he added.
IRD said a total of K2 billion in commercial tax has been collected from restaurants this fiscal year in Yangon, more than double the amount collected in the same period last year.
