Maldives brings inbound tourism products and booking platforms into GST from 1 October 2026

What changed in detail

The Eighth Amendment to the Goods and Services Tax Act (Law Number 10/2011) was passed at the 28th sitting of the 20th Parliament on 26 August 2026 and published in the Government Gazette on ratification by the President on 31 August 2026. Clause 31 commences the Act from that publication date.

A new section 68 definition makes an “inbound tourism product” mean accommodation, meals, transport, or any other tourist activity in the Maldives. New section 5-2(b)(3) deems such a supply — and agency or booking services pertaining to it — to be made in the Maldives where the recipient is not a registered person, regardless of where the supplier sits. New section 13(c)(8) treats supplying an inbound tourism product without a fixed place of business in the Maldives as carrying on a taxable activity.

New section 15(a)(6) captures an inbound tourism product, and agency and booking services relating to one, supplied by a person without a fixed place of business in the Maldives. New section 15(b-1) subjects those supplies to GST at the section 15(b)(6) rate from 1 October 2026.

Two consequences follow in the same Act. Section 37(f) denies any input tax set-off to a supplier of an inbound tourism product without a fixed place of business, and section 19(e) values the supply as the consideration received less the consideration payable to a registered person. Section 51(k) requires a person already carrying on a qualifying activity to apply to MIRA for registration within 30 days of commencement.

What it means

An overseas online travel agent that never touches Maldivian soil is now a Maldivian taxpayer because of what it sells, not where it is, and the registration hook fires on the first qualifying booking rather than on a turnover threshold. Section 59-1 supplies the enforcement channel: MIRA can compel resident registered persons to identify suppliers who should be registered and are not.

The two dates do not line up, and the earlier one binds: registration for existing suppliers is due 30 days from 31 August, so the window closes at the end of September, before the rate applies on 1 October.

The input-tax denial in section 37(f) is what makes the section 19(e) valuation rule matter. Deduct nothing, but value the supply net of what is paid on to a registered Maldivian supplier, and the charge lands on the intermediary’s own margin — calculable only if the booking system can separate the resort’s share from the platform’s.