The Directorate of Investment and Company Administration has published a revised list of companies to be struck off its register, after receiving a number of complaints from businesses named on the list that are still operational.
In August, the regulator issued a request for confirmation from all companies still in business, as it seeks to clean up its database by removing out-of-date company names.
However, the list of 20,165 local and 2015 international “out of touch companies” published earlier this month contained a number of errors.
Some companies such as Myanmar Red Dot Network and Capital Diamond Star Group confirmed that their companies are currently active in Myanmar and that they have submitted documentation notifying DICA.
Others said that former incarnations of their business were named on the list, leading to confusion among clients. These included international companies such as Singapore-based Surbana International Consultants, who have since confirmed their operating subsidiary status in Myanmar with DICA.
In response to feedback, DICA has released an updated list, and will wait for active companies to get in touch for at least another month, before striking the remaining names from the register in early 2016, Daw Nilar Mu, director of DICA’s Department of Company Registration, told The Myanmar Times.
“We are reviewing and amending the list. We hope to receive responses urgently from companies on the list that want to continue running their businesses,” Daw Nilar Mu said.
“We are aiming to discover which companies are still operating. To compile the list of defunct companies we took the list of names and removed those that had been in touch before the October 16 deadline,” she said.
A number of companies on the list may still be in operation but failed to respond before the deadline, she said. “Also there are some errors, in which companies on the list have a different registration number but the same company name as those which are still operational.”
These names may be on the list because a number of larger companies in Myanmar have multiple subsidiaries, some of which are no longer in business, she said.
This was the case for Tun Foundation Bank, said general manager Daw Moe Marlar.
“Consumers are concerned as our name appears on the list. In fact, the Tun Foundation Bank has already informed DICA that it is operating,” she said. “The registration number that appears on the list is an old number. We have informed DICA and asked them to take our name from the list.”
In the past, companies could only register to carry out a single type of business. Those involved in multiple industries were required to register a number of separate subsidiaries, DICA director general U Aung Naing Oo told media including The Myanmar Times last week.
From 2014, companies were allowed to operate as conglomerates under a single registered entity, he said. As a result, many subsidiaries of well-known companies are no longer in operation and are likely to appear on the list, which could lead to some confusion.
In cleaning up the list, DICA is trying to ensure its data is not inflated, U Aung Naing Oo previously told The Myanmar Times. Many companies do not report regularly and a number of businesses in the past were set up to evade taxes, and were not properly liquidated, he said.
Many of companies named really do need to be wound up, said Daw Nilar Mu. “We will clean up the registry in early 2016, to remove those that do not pay taxes, or have not paid to renew their business,” she said.
An updated register will also help the Internal Revenue Department to keep track of taxpayers.
Authorities have been trying to boost tax collection rates which, at 8pc of GDP, remain among the lowest in the region.
In mid-2014, the Internal Revenue Department published a list of companies that had failed to pay taxes. A list of mid-sized companies that are not tax-complaint was published earlier this year.
Source: Myanmar Times