Any persons or business that extracts 10 million litres of water or more in a month will be subjected to increased Income Tax (Water Extraction Industry Incentive Regulation 2023 (ITA WRT Incentive Regulation).
On Friday, Government introduced the Water Resource Tax (Budget Amendment) Bill in Parliament, seeking to amend the Water Resource Tax 2008.
Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad said this Bill and the ITA WRT Incentive Regulation seek to promote the water extraction by exempting income attributable to activities that are subject to the Water Resource Tax (WRT) from income taxed under the Income Tax Act 2015 (ITA) and further by coordinating the WRT and ITA.
He said this Bill increases the rate of tax that applies under the Act for persons or businesses that extract 10 million litres of water or more in a month.
“The Bill amends the Act by limiting its application to persons or
businesses that are engaged in a “Water Extraction and Bottling Business” as defined in Clause 2 of the Bill. Taxpayers that are not engaged in a Water Extraction and Bottling Business shall not be subject to the Act.”
“Bill clarifies that the WRT applies to all water extracted by taxpayers engaged in a Water Extraction and Bottling Business regardless of its use,” he added.
If the amended legislation is passed, it will come into effect on August 1.
