The Maldives postpones its tourism tax on foreign tour operators to April 2027

Update — 22 October 2026: the start has been postponed

The Maldives has postponed the start of the 17% tourism goods and services tax on foreign tour operators, travel agents and booking platforms from 1 October 2026 to 1 April 2027. Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Ameen announced the delay on 3 October at the National Tourism Day gathering, The Standard reported. We have not found a notice from the tax authority, MIRA. The law itself, described below, is unchanged; only the start date has moved. For trips booked now through an Indian agent, nothing changes until April 2027.

What the law actually does

Law No. 10/2026, the Eighth Amendment to the Maldives Goods and Services Tax Act (Law No. 10/2011), was gazetted on Monday 31 August 2026 at 13:03, in Volume 55, Issue 129 of the Government Gazette. It was passed by the People’s Majlis at the 27th sitting of its second session of 2026 on Sunday 23 August, and sent to the President’s Office the following day.

The amendment adds a new limb to what counts as a taxable activity: supplying an inbound tourism product in the Maldives where the supplier has no permanent place of business in the Maldives through which it carries on its taxable activity. It also adds a place-of-supply rule, so that a service counts as supplied in the Maldives when it is the supply of an inbound tourism product — or an agency service or a booking service provided in relation to one.

That second half is the part with reach. It is not only the tour operator selling the holiday; it is the agency and booking layer around it.

When it starts, and the 30-day clock

A new provision sets the start date in the statute itself: GST on these supplies is charged, at the tourism rate the Act cross-refers to, with effect from 1 October 2026.

The amendment also requires anyone meeting the conditions to apply to register with the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority within 30 days of the Act coming into force. That is a compliance obligation on the seller, not on you.

What it means if you are booking the Maldives

The test in the statute is the absence of a permanent place of business in the Maldives. There is no nationality carve-out in the text and no threshold attached to the registration trigger, so on the face of it an Indian tour operator selling a Maldives package, without an establishment in the Maldives, is within scope. No source we opened names India or Indian operators specifically, and we are not going to assert more than the text supports.

The practical question for a traveller is whether this reaches the price. A tax on the operator is not automatically a tax on you, and nothing in the amendment obliges anyone to pass it on. But it starts on 1 October, which is the front edge of the Maldives high season and of the Indian festive booking window. If you are holding a quote for travel from October onward, it is worth asking your operator now whether the price is guaranteed or subject to tax changes.

One number we are deliberately not printing: the amendment does not state a percentage. It cross-refers to the tourism rate already set elsewhere in the Act. Trade coverage has put that at 17 per cent; the figure is not in the instrument we read, so we are attributing rather than asserting it. See our Maldives destination pages for what a trip there involves.

Sources

This report is based on the following published sources. Rules and schedules change — confirm with the issuing authority before you travel.

• Law No. 10/2026 — Eighth Amendment to the Goods and Services Tax Act (gazette entry) — Government Gazette of the Maldives, 31 August 2026
• Law No. 10/2026 — full text (Volume 55, Issue 129) — Government Gazette of the Maldives, 31 August 2026
• Government delays 17% TGST on foreign travel agencies until April 2027 — The Standard (Maldives), 03 October 2026