ICASL in fresh drive to educate professionals on taxation

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL), in its aim of upgrading the knowledge of professionals and members of the general public in taxation, will conduct a Certificate Course in Advanced Taxation commencing on 5 February.

The globally recognised accountancy organisation with over 4,200 professional members and 36,000 registered students, is offering a comprehensive course covering some very topical taxation issues.

The four-and-a-half month course scheduled to be held on Saturdays is targeted at company directors and secretaries, assessors, tax lawyers, members representing professional accountancy institutes and the general public who show a keen interest in the subject.

Registration for the course will close on 3 February.

Established in the late 1959 by an Act of Parliament (No. 23 of 1959), the Institute is Sri Lanka’s largest professional body and was the first professional Accountancy Organisation to be incorporated under an Act of Parliament.

Among the topics covered in the course are: Computation of income from trade business etc, employment income, capital gains, statutory income, assessable income, taxable income, liability of companies, exemptions VAT, withholding tax, PAYE, appeals etc, tax statute and case law and debit tax.  

In the fields of taxation and company law, the ICASL renders valuable assistance to the government of Sri Lanka by suggesting various fiscal and other proposals to be included in the relevant legislation.

The institute is also the only sole accredited authority to formulate accounting and auditing Standards in Sri Lanka.

ICASL established its Faculty of Taxation in 1995 headed by R.N. Asirwatham as Chairman, with the objective of assisting members to further the knowledge and practice in taxation.

The Certificate Course in Taxation was launched in 2000. It has been well received over the years due to the extensive topics covered and the knowledge attained by participants of the course through well qualified lecturers.

The faculty also conducts the Taxation Course for Professionals and Practitioners, which targets beginners.

In addition, it organises various events hosted by eminent professionals to share knowledge on subjects related to taxation including an annual tax oration where eminent people involved in public finance are invited to conduct the oration.