The Fiji Corporate Tax Return — Step-by-Step

Every year, Fiji-resident companies face the same deadline: lodge a corporate income tax return with the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) within three months of year-end. It sounds simple, but the return itself pulls together statutory accounts, tax computations, depreciation schedules and — for many companies — transfer pricing documentation. Missing a step, or missing the deadline, gets expensive fast.

Here's what's actually required, what's changed recently, and where companies most often run into trouble with FRCS.

Who must file

Every Fiji-resident company must lodge an annual corporate income tax return (Form CIT), including non-profits with taxable income. Dormant companies aren't exempt either — they still need to lodge a nil return.

The filing deadline

Corporate returns are due within three months of year-end. For a calendar year-end company, that's 31 March. Extensions can be requested, but FRCS doesn't grant them as of right, so it pays to start early rather than rely on one coming through.

What the return requires

1. A completed Form CIT (corporate return), lodged through FRCS's Taxpayer Online Service (TPOS)
2. Signed and dated statutory accounts, prepared under IFRS for SMEs or full IFRS
3. A computation of taxable income from accounting profit
4. Supporting schedules for depreciation, provisions and capital allowances
5. Transfer pricing documentation, where the company has cross-border transactions with related parties

On that last point: Fiji's transfer pricing rules don't carve out a minimum threshold below which documentation isn't needed. Any company that's part of a multinational group, or has a branch, subsidiary or related overseas entity, needs to be able to produce documentation showing related-party pricing is at arm's length — within 14 days of an FRCS request. It doesn't get filed with the return, but not having it ready carries a fixed penalty of FJD 100,000.

The corporate tax rate

The standard corporate tax rate is 25%, in place since the 2023–2024 tax year and unchanged in the 2026–2027 national budget — the Finance Minister confirmed no increase to corporate tax rates this cycle.

A couple of exceptions worth knowing:

• Companies listed on the South Pacific Stock Exchange pay a reduced rate of 15% for seven years from their listing date.
• Prescribed small and micro enterprises in agriculture, fisheries or tourism, with gross turnover not exceeding FJD 500,000, can qualify for a full income tax exemption under the Income Tax (Exempt Income) Regulations 2016, rather than a reduced rate. Worth checking eligibility properly rather than assuming — this is often mischaracterised online as a flat "10% small business rate," which isn't how the current rules work.

Certain prescribed sectors — tourism, film and audio-visual production, ICT start-ups, agriculture and others — also carry time-limited tax holidays or investment allowances, some extended or newly introduced in the 2025–2026 and 2026–2027 budgets.

The 8 things that trigger FRCS queries

From what we see in practice, these are the areas most likely to draw a follow-up from FRCS:

• Related-party management fees without supporting documentation
• Large provisions for doubtful debts without evidence of impairment
• Unvouched director's drawings or loans
• Depreciation methods that shift from prior years without explanation
• Thin-cap borrowing — high debt-to-equity funding from related parties
• Entertainment expenses claimed in full rather than apportioned
• Home-office claims for directors
• Foreign-exchange translation errors

None of these are automatically disallowed — but they're the line items FRCS reviewers tend to flag first, so it's worth having the paper trail ready before you file, not after a query lands.

Other taxes that may apply to your business

Corporate income tax is only one line in FRCS's system. Depending on what your company does, several other taxes and levies can apply alongside it — and many of these are more common trip-ups than the CIT return itself, since they're paid monthly or quarterly rather than once a year.

• Value Added Tax (VAT) — 12.5% standard (from 1 Aug 2025); 0% on exports and zero-rated supplies. Applies to: Businesses with turnover over FJD 100,000 (or expected to exceed it)
• PAYE Withholding Tax — Progressive personal rates. Applies to: Employers, on employee salaries and wages
• Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) — 20% of a grossed-up value — effectively 25% of what the benefit cost you. Applies to: Employers providing non-cash benefits (vehicles, housing, loans, etc.), paid quarterly
• Advance Tax — Instalments of estimated annual liability. Applies to: Companies, paid in three instalments — the last day of the 6th, 9th and 12th months of the tax year — and credited against the final CIT bill. Reduced from nine instalments with effect from tax year 2025.
• Provisional Tax (withholding) — 5%. Applies to: Payments to independent contractors or commission agents (exempt with a Certificate of Exemption, or if annual payments are under FJD 1,000)
• Non-Resident Withholding Tax — 3%–15%, depending on payment type and any double tax agreement — 15% on royalties, management fees, professional services and natural resource amounts; 10% on interest; nil on dividends. Applies to: Interest, royalties, management fees, professional fees, insurance premiums and shipping income paid to non-residents
• Capital Gains Tax (CGT) — 10%. Applies to: Gains on disposal of capital assets — land, buildings, shares, and similar
• Environment & Climate Adaptation Levy (ECAL) — Nil — repealed. The charging provisions were deleted by Act 10 of 2022 with effect from 1 April 2022 — prescribed services now bear VAT only. The rate had already fallen from 10% to 5% on 1 August 2020 before removal.
• Telecommunications Levy — 1%. Applies to: Prescribed telecommunications services
• Social Responsibility Tax (SRT) — Nil — merged into PAYE. No longer a separate charge. SRT was incorporated into the PAYE income tax bands from 1 January 2024, which is why the resident rates above $270,000 now run from 33% up to 39%.
• Gambling Turnover Tax (GTT) — Varies. Applies to: Licensed gaming and betting operators
• Water Resource Tax — Varies. Applies to: Businesses extracting or bottling water
• Customs and excise duties — Varies by tariff band (5%–32%). Applies to: Importers, and some domestically manufactured goods
• Tourism Services Tax (new, temporary) — 5%. Applies to: Hotels, tour operators and cruise operators with turnover of FJD 2 million or more, effective 1 Sept 2026 for 12 months

Two taxes worth flagging as no longer in force, since they still show up in older guidance: Stamp Duty was abolished for instruments entered into from 1 August 2020, and the Service Turnover Tax was repealed the same year and folded into VAT.

Which of these apply to you depends heavily on your sector, turnover and whether you're dealing with related parties overseas — a tourism operator's tax footprint looks very different from a professional services firm's.

After lodgement

FRCS issues a Notice of Assessment confirming or adjusting your self-assessed figure. If you disagree with it, you have 60 days to lodge an objection. Where the assessment stands, final tax is payable within 30 days of the Notice of Assessment being issued.

How Alvin Kumar & Associates helps

Getting a company set up and compliant in Fiji involves more than a once-a-year filing. We help clients:

• Register with FRCS and get set up correctly on TPOS from day one
• Prepare statutory accounts and the annual corporate tax return
• Build the supporting schedules FRCS actually asks for — depreciation, provisions, capital allowances
• Review related-party positions and prepare transfer pricing documentation before it's requested, not after
• Manage FRCS correspondence and queries as they come in
• Represent clients in FRCS objections and disputes when needed

If you're setting up a new company in Fiji, or want a second look at how your current return is being prepared, get in touch with Alvin Kumar & Associates — we'll walk through what's needed for your specific structure and sector.