COLOMBO :The Inland Revenue Department organized a ‘Seminar on new tax changes’ today 8th April 2021. The keynote speaker for the event was Dr.P.B.Jayasundara , President’s Secretary.
H.M.W.C.Bandara Commissioner General of Inland Revenue addressing the gathering said that on 2nd April 2021 the Inland Revenue celebrated its 89th year anniversary. He said that the year 2014 is the most important year for the Inland Revenue Department since the first steps towards digitalization was embraced in the year 2014 with the launch of Revenue Administration Management Information System (RAMIS). He explained that there are mainly 4 years covered under the RAMIS, E-registration, E filing, E payments and E communication.
Bandara elaborated that the Inland Revenue Officer are currently working on increasing effective E-communication whereby they hope to provide a taxpayer, a 360-degree view of their respective tax related information on the online platform.
“Although, we have made a lot of efforts to digitalize the tax administration process, the usage of the E facilities is still only 15%. Therefore, we have introduced the mandatory requirement from 1st April 2021 for companies to use the RAMIS/online platform”he said.
Further, he explained that the tax reforms will have a positive impact on the doing business index where Sri Lanka currently holds the 99th rank, “due to the recent tax changes the no. of tax payments for a year has been reduced from 38 to 24” says Bandara.
Dr.P.B.Jayasundara , President’s Secretary addressing the gathering said that he was pleased to be part of this seminar since this seminar organized by the Inland Revenue Department post the relevant laws being drafted and the respective tax bill being issued. He explained that as per “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour”, the policy framework of the government of the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, simplification of taxation is a main focus along with digitalization of the tax administration process.
Dr Jayasundara appreciated that the Inland Revenue Department made reference to the ‘Doing Business Index’ and said “ to improve the ranking, it is important to simplify the taxes and enhance the efficiency in tax payment and tax filing”.
Further, he explained as per statistics of the IRD, 80% of the tax revenue is contributed by 20% of the taxpayers. Therefore, a tax efficient, simplified tax system focusing on this 20% of the taxpayers will support to enhance the tax revenue.
Dr Jayasundara also elaborated on the importance of increasing the National Gross Domestic Production and the correlation between the GDP and tax revenue, “If the National GDP increases the taxes will increase. If the GDP increases the employment opportunities would increase and this will give rise to a set of individuals who can afford to pay taxes. Further increased GDP will also give rise to profitable organizations who can afford to pay their fair share of taxes”.
He further added, as stated in “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour”, the Government simplified the tax policy with effect from January 2020 to facilitate taxpayers and to make the tax administration more efficient.
He explained the consistent tax policy which the Government has adopted, “The President believes that increasing the tax rates time to time is not a solution to enhance the tax revenue. One of the main factors, of reviving the economy and supporting the businesses to thrive, is a consistent tax policy for the next 5 years”.
Further technical presentations on the recent changes to the tax law were carried out by A. M. Nafeel – Commissioner and other tax officers at the Inland Revenue Department.
The presentations were followed by a Q & A session. The panel included Mr. Attygalle, Secretary to the Treasury, Ministry of Finance, Ms. Priyanka Dissabandara – Tax Advisory to the Ministry of Finance , H.M.W.C Bandara, the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue, A. M. Nafeel – Commissioner, N. C. Wijewardana – Deputy Commissioner and other tax officers representing the Inland Revenue Department.
