Govt. to implement crucial tax bills from 1 April

• Says revenue to GDP increased from 10.2% to 13.8% within past two years
• Govt. sets Rs.660b revenue collection target for IRD

By Charumini de Silva 

Several months after passing the 2017 Budget proposal, the Government is finally ready to implement the crucial tax bills, starting 1 April, to improve its revenue to the gross domestic product (GDP), a top Minister confirmed.

“All the tax proposals that were proposed and weren’t implemented due to various reasons will be implemented from 1 April,” Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake told Daily FT.

The Finance Ministry, he said, together with the line Ministries and Government institutions are currently working on the legislative process.

The Minister said that the coalition Government had managed to increase the revenue to GDP from 10.2% to 13.8% during the past two years and is confident of achieving the set revenue targets for this year.

Noting that collection of tax is always a challenge, Inland Revenue Department Commissioner General Kalyani Dahanayake said that tax revenue collection target for the year is Rs. 660 billion.

“We are working hard to achieve this target by the end of the year,” she added.

Dahanayake also said that during last month the Department had doubled its revenue collection target of Rs.35 billion to Rs.59 billion. 

The Commissioner General pointed out that the Government revenue is expected to increase at a higher rate going forward with the implementation of new taxes, improvements in taxation system as well as with the continued expansion in domestic economic activities.