Rs. 297 b Govt. revenue in arrears

The Auditor General has revealed that Rs. 297 billion in revenue is in arrears and was not reflected in the Finance Ministry’s accounts for 2016.

In his observation, the Auditor General H.M. Gamini Wijesinghe has said the total arrears of Revenue of the Department of Inland Revenue as at 31 December 2016 consisted of Rs. 182,078 million being the amount of defaulted taxes recoverable as at 31 December 2016 and Rs. 113,219 million the penalty thereon, both totally Rs. 295,297 million. 

Similarly, the arrears of revenue as at 31 December 2016 of the Department of Excise amounted to Rs. 2,545 million. As such, the total arrears of revenue of the two institutions as at 31 December 2016, amounting to Rs. 297,842 million, had not been disclosed in financial statements.