How to calculate Maldives GST on inbound tourism products

Direct answer

There are two formulas. If you resell a Maldives package, the value of your supply is (A − B) × 1 ⁄ (1 + t): you are taxed on your margin. If you charge a booking or agency fee, the value is A × 1 ⁄ (1 + t): the whole fee is taxed, with no deduction. A is what you received, B is consideration payable to a Maldives-registered person, and t is 17%.

Why the distinction matters more than anything else on this page

Most commentary on this regime says overseas operators are "taxed on their margin". That is only half right, and the half that is wrong is expensive.

The margin basis applies to reselling an inbound tourism product. It does not apply to agency and booking services. If you take a commission or a booking fee rather than buying and reselling a package, you account for GST on the entire fee.

Sources: MIRA GST Guide Box 2 and Box 4; 2026/R-82 new reg. art. 29-1(a); Act s.19(e).

The terms

Then: GST payable = value of supply × 17% (Guide Box 3).

Three things about B that catch people out

1. B is not "everything you pay out". It is limited to consideration payable to a person registered for Maldives GST in relation to that product. A payment to an unregistered supplier does not reduce your value.

2. The wording differs slightly across the three sources. The Act says consideration "payable to a registered person" (s.19(e)). The 32nd amendment to the Regulation says "payable to a registered person or a person required to be registered", slightly wider (new reg. art. 29-1(a); CST Advisory's translation of the Dhivehi text). MIRA's guide says "paid to a GST registered person" (Box 2). Where the difference could change your answer, get advice.

3. Nobody has said when B is measured: when it becomes payable, when it is actually paid, or whether it must fall in the same taxable period as A. MIRA has not addressed this.

The zero floor

If (A − B) comes out negative, it is treated as zero. You do not get a negative value, and the formula does not generate a refund (Guide Box 2; 2026/R-82 new reg. art. 29-1(c)).

Mixed packages: strip out what is not a Maldives tourism product

An inbound tourism product is accommodation, meals, transport or another tourist activity in the Maldives (Act s.68). International airfare and a transit hotel in a third country are not.

Before applying the formula, exclude any amount attributable to services that are not inbound tourism products, including the margin attributable to those elements (Guide §5, Example 2; 2026/R-82 new reg. art. 29-1(b)).

You will need documentation substantiating the split. MIRA's record-keeping list expressly includes, for mixed packages, "documentation substantiating that fact" (Guide §8).

Worked examples: MIRA's own figures

These are taken directly from MIRA's GST Guide of 11 September 2026, so you can check them against the source.

Example 1: straightforward resale

Luxury Tours, a UK tour operator with no Maldives presence but registered for Maldives GST, buys a 6-night package from Athiri Resort for USD 2,457 and resells it to a guest for USD 3,194.10.

Value of supply = (3,194.10 − 2,457) × 1 ⁄ (1 + 0.17)
                = 737.10 ⁄ 1.17
                = USD 630.00

GST payable     = 630.00 × 17%
                = USD 107.10

Note what the formula does: the margin of USD 737.10 is treated as GST-inclusive, so it is divided by 1.17 to get the value, and the tax is then 17% of that. Treating the margin itself as the taxable base would give USD 125.31 instead of USD 107.10, overstating the GST by USD 18.21 on a single booking.

Example 2: a package with non-Maldives elements

Same purchase from Athiri Resort at USD 2,457. Luxury Tours also arranges international airfare and a transit hotel at Dubai Airport, and sells the combined package for USD 4,500.

The amount attributable to services outside the meaning of an inbound tourism product (including the margin on them) is USD 1,305.90. So the consideration received in respect of the inbound tourism product is USD 3,194.10.

Value of supply = (3,194.10 − 2,457) × 1 ⁄ (1 + 0.17)
                = USD 630.00

GST payable     = USD 107.10

The answer is the same as Example 1, because the non-Maldives elements and their margin have been stripped out first.

Example 3: a booking fee, where the margin basis does not apply

Island Escape, a Sri Lankan travel agent with no Maldives presence but registered for Maldives GST, arranges a stay at Fushi Resort. The guest pays USD 2,000 directly to the resort on arrival. Island Escape charges the guest a separate booking fee of USD 117.

Value of supply = 117 × 1 ⁄ (1 + 0.17)
                = USD 100.00

GST payable     = 100.00 × 17%
                = USD 17.00

There is no deduction for the USD 2,000, because Island Escape never received it: it went straight to the resort. The USD 117 fee is taxed in full.

If you should have registered and did not

The Regulation has a separate formula for a person caught by the "collecting GST without being registered" rule. For a non-resident, the GST payable on an inbound tourism product is:

(A − B) × t ⁄ (1 + t)

with the same zero floor (2026/R-82 new reg. art. 13(c-1) and 13(c-2); CST Advisory's translation).

Note the difference carefully: this returns the tax, where the valuation formula returns the value. The numerator is t, not 1. On the Example 1 figures it produces the same USD 107.10, as it should, but the two are not interchangeable.

You cannot recover Maldives input tax

An overseas supplier of inbound tourism products cannot set off any input tax against output tax (Act s.37(f)). There is no credit for the GST embedded in what the resort charged you.

That is the trade-off for the margin basis: the deduction for what you pay a Maldives-registered supplier is built into the valuation formula instead of being claimed as input tax. It also means that for an agency or booking fee, where there is no B deduction, there is no relief at all for Maldives GST you have borne.

Currency

Returns and payments are in US dollars (Act s.62(a); Guide §9). Convert amounts in other currencies using a rate within ±2% of the Maldives Monetary Authority rate applicable at the time of supply, use your chosen rate source consistently, and where the MMA has published no rate for a date, use the last rate published before it (Guide §9).

Send us a live booking and we will compute the GST on it. Give us one real package (what you paid, what you charged, and what else was in it) and we will show you the calculation and where the risk sits.

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