IN a bid to increase the country’s tax base and bring in more revenue, Myanmar’s Internal Revenue Depart-ment is considering a shift from the current official assessment system to a self-assessment system.

Internal Revenue director U Kay Kay said on August 31 that the current system had been in place for more than 20 years. But self-assessment, when taxpayers calculate how much they have to pay and are responsible for paying it, had proved successful elsewhere.

“Singapore brought in legislation requiring people to assess themselves, so the government doesn’t need to push them to pay their taxes on time. But here, most citizens don’t pay tax on time. It’s a big problem,” he said.

Departmental statistics show tax revenue has risen from K51 billion in 1999 to K838 billion in 2008. Internal Revenue collects five kinds of tax: commercial, income, stamp, revenue and lottery taxes.

U Kay Kay said that, due to widespread ignorance of the tax laws and to outright evasion, only 1.09 percent of the country’s 54 million people actually paid any tax.

“Of those, only 20pc pay on time,” he said.

Pending a full evaluation of existing practices, there is no target date for the introduction of the new system. The contemplated reforms will also include tax counselling and taxpayer education, said U Kay Kay, who hopes self-assessment will reduce disputes between taxpayers and his depart-ment.