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Time
to declare hidden assets What are the
objectives of this Act? To encourage
people to come forward to pay up the taxes they are supposed to
pay. It enables persons who have not declared to the Commissioner
General of Inland Revenue or to the relevant authority all or any
portion of his liability to tax or of the sources of income and
assets before March 31, 2002 to make a declaration, to make provision
for the grant of certain concessions to declarents and non-declarents,
and to grant immunity to such persons against liability to pay certain
taxes and against liability from investigation, prosecution and
penalties. This is done with a view to securing the future compliance
with the prevalent tax laws by such persons. What are income
taxpayers supposed to do in order to enjoy the privileges under
this Act? The income
tax year is from 1st April to 31st March. Any person whether, in
Sri Lanka or abroad, who has not paid up the taxes he should have
paid nor made a declaration of his assets and sources of income
upto March 31, 2002, may make a declaration of the sources of his
income and assets as at April 1, 2002, to the Commissioner General
on or before June 30, 2003. Any person
who makes such a declaration is granted immunity from any investigation
or prosecution for any offence under any of the relevant laws (See
separate story for the laws) in relation to any period ending on
or before March 31, 2002 as far as the declaration relates to non-payment
of taxes, the sources of income or assets declared, the profits
or income earned from which such assets were funded, and any matter
related to or incidental to any of the above. Furthermore,
any person, who has made the required declarations for the periods
prior to March 31, 2002, can make a declaration to verify the correctness
of his position or he could make amendments to his previous declaration.
At this stage we have to accept whatever the taxpayers submit as
final. What has been
the result so far? Have people taken interest in this? It is hard
to tell about the result now. It is only now we have started the
publicity and awareness campaign for it. I get many calls a day
from individuals asking for details. I have attended seminars organised
by organisations for their clients and members. We have 13 regional
offices. In 12 of them (excluding the office in Jaffna) we are conducting
seminars at a regional level as well as in the Colombo Metropolitan
areas to educate the taxpayers. What are the
benefits granted to the tax payers who have already paid up their
due taxes fully? Nothing. There
are no such benefits but they also can make declarations under this
Special Provisions Act and ascertain the correctness of their positions. Isn't this
Act giving amnesty to money earned by illegal means and to 'black
money'? This is a policy matter about which I do not wish to comment. What will be
the benefit to the people who come forward under this new Act? Within thirty
days of receiving the declaration, the Commissioner General or any
officer of the rank of commissioner, will issue an acknowledgement
and the person can go to the other departments and authorities and
seek immunity under this special law for any previous investigation
or prosecution for any offence. As the Commissioner
of Inland Revenue what is your message to the people? Come forward
and submit your declaration. Pay all your taxes and dues to the
state voluntarily. After all, the revenue is used for the welfare
of the nation. The taxes are for the improvement of the health services,
education, transport facilities etc. Comply with all the tax laws
of the country. The benefits are for the people of the country.
Economic
stability raises Lankan growth prospects The Asian Development
Outlook 2003 (ADO), an annual ADB publication that forecasts economic
trends in the region, warned, however, that slower recovery in the
United Sates and Europe and significantly higher oil prices, would
have a negative impact on the economy, if prolonged. The conflict
in the Middle East could also affect trade and tourism as well as
remittances from Sri Lankan workers in the Gulf. The ADO says
the government has made progress in stabilizing the economy, providing
a firm foundation for more rapid growth. "The government needs
to build on this foundation by pursuing the necessary structural
reforms for sustained higher growth rates in the medium term,"
the ADB's Colombo office said quoting the report. Rising external
demand from industrial countries, mainly in the second half of 2003,
should provide a much-needed boost to the export sector. Tourism
and shipping, which have shown strong recoveries after the ceasefire,
are likely to continue expanding in 2003. In addition, investment
should improve due to the cessation of hostilities and lower interest
rates. Higher oil
prices would dampen industrial growth, but the end of the drought
that has plagued the country for the past several years should help
keep electricity prices in check as generation need not rely as
much on expensive thermal plants. Given continued
favourable weather, agricultural production has also shown a resurgence
in recent months and should perform well at least in the first half
of 2003. The target
budget deficit of 7.5% of GDP in 2003 is ambitious, but feasible
as the government is making efforts to bring the deficit down to
a sustainable level. The government needs to make further efforts
to increase tax receipts, the report aded. The ADO adds
that the growth forecasts do not include the impact of relief and
rehabilitation work, the financing of which will come from abroad,
given the tight constraints on domestic resources. International
donors will gather in Tokyo in June to pledge funding for the reconstruction
of Sri Lanka, but the magnitude of assistance will depend on the
progress of the peace negotiations. National
e-government conference next week Others involved
in this conference are The Information and Communication Technology
Cluster with support from United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) through The Competitiveness Initiative (TCI)
and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the organizers
said in a press release. The objective
of this two-day conference is to unveil the government's e-government
strategy and to create awareness among the legislators and senior
public officials of the importance of e-government in delivering
citizen services. Another key objective is the development of already
created action plans in this regard. CEOs of leading private sector
organizations have been invited in order to identify opportunities
to partner the government in implementing the programme, while several
international speakers will share their experiences in implementing
e-government programmes. It has been
decided to establish an ongoing high-level forum on e-government
to facilitate a national dialogue and consensus on an e-government
vision. This will also support the establishment of institutional
frameworks for planning and implementing e-government initiatives.
The forum will facilitate continuous input and feedback from those
who make use of government services. The statement said the government,
private sector and other stakeholders in the nation's development
share a belief that ICT is a foundation for the equitable distribution
of opportunity and knowledge within societies and communities, and
a key factor in the competitive advantage of nations. "With
Sri Lanka having one of the highest literacy rates in the world,
impressive IT professionals in the private and government sectors,
the vision for a totally e-Sri Lanka becomes a reality only with
the support and engagement of the legislature, the executive, public
sector, private sector, the academia, donor community, NGOs and
the people of Sri Lanka.” as willing
partners to achieve the critical milestones during the five years
ahead," it said. Asian
Alliance Insurance opens state of the art training centre The Training
Room itself has the capacity to hold approximately 30-50 participants
in varying seating arrangements and is equipped with the necessary
audio-visual communication equipment. Hashra Weerawardene,
Manager - Sales, Training and Development, outlined the company's
training process and future plans. He said he was happy about the
availability of a dedicated training centre considering the quantum
of sales training and development carried out by the company. The Asian Alliance
Insurance Life advisors follow a vigorous in-house training process
spanning their entire sales career. The initial career presentation
is made to new recruits to highlight the benefits of a sales career
in the insurance industry. This is followed by many modules of induction
training following their recruitment. In September 2001 the company instigated a certification process to ensure professionalism in selling. All Insurance Advisors at Asian Alliance Insurance now have to be certified by following this training process in order to continue their practice. Now in its third year of operations, Asian Alliance Insurance conducts its General Insurance business through a very supportive broker community. On the Life Insurance side the company now has over 400 Life Insurance Advisors providing financial solutions to a target audience of above average incomes, according to a company statement. 'Running
Your Enterprise' for 16 young entrepreneurs in Kegalle Shell LiveWIRE,
a community investment initiative of Shell Sri Lanka, aimed at developing
and encouraging young entrepreneurs, targets youth between 16 and
32 to offer its services. RYE is being offered as a follow-up to
the popular "Bright Ideas" workshop (BIW), also sponsored
by Shell LiveWIRE. While all 16
participants are currently running their own micro businesses, ranging
from beauty culture and bridal dressing to rubber ornament production
and computer repairing, none of them had completed a business plan
for their specific venture. The workshop,
conducted by Premasiri Gamage, Sanath Vidanagama and Upul Jayawardene,
concentrated on explicating the content of the LiveWIRE booklets
provided, which form the foundation of a business plan. Pic. below shows officials and participants at the workshop Fly
Emirates and donate to charity Specially-designed
donation envelopes now are placed in seat pockets on every flight
for passengers to use and hand to cabin crew for safe deposit on
arrival back in Dubai, the airline said. The Emirates
Airline Foundation is a non-profit charity organisation which aims
to improve the lives of disadvantaged children around the world. Funds will
be directed to key areas of children's needs such as food, medicines,
housing and education. A spokesperson
for the committee said: "That spare foreign currency which
we bring back from a trip usually ends up in the back of a drawer.
"This leftover cash can make an enormous difference to a needy
child, if donated to our foundation to help fund projects. Suitable projects
for funding will be selected by the foundation's volunteer organising
committee made up of senior Emirates Group management.The goal of
the foundation is to use 95 percent of the donated funds exclusively
for the children with five percent being allocated to the foundation's
administrative expenses. New
safeguards under proposed Intellectual Property Bill in parliament
soon The minister,
in a statement, said that the new bill, which would repeal the current
Intellectual Properties Act No. 52 of 1979, is presently being gazetted
and is expected to be released by the government printer in next
week. Director of
the National Intellectual Property office of Sri Lanka, Dr. D.M.
Karunaratne said that the proposed Act will give new value to information,
as it gives wider protection for information including trade secrets,
information technology and even special provision to cover integrated
circuits. He said that
the value of information is not adequately protected at present
but the new Act will have special provisions to cover computer software
and databases which is aimed to give adequate piracy protection
for the country's emerging IT industry. Karunaratne
said under the new Act, the intellectual property rights of a person
has been extended to his lifetime plus 70 years, which is well above
the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) requirements
of lifetime plus 50 years. The Act also has special provisions to
provide relief measures for artistes, performers and writers, who
had been frequent victims of intellectual property piracy. Karunaratne said that singers, actors and performers who had not received any rights under the present Act will be given certain rights pertaining to their songs and performances in future and a special settlement mechanism will also be set up to solve the IP disputes pertaining to artistes amicably. With reference
to trade, the new Act will contain provisions to prevent and fight
unfair trade competition. Geographical location identifications
such as Ceylon Tea and Ruhunu Curd will also be given special protection
under the new Act, which will ban using such identification marks
on sub-standard products, the statement said. Private
hospitals don't make enormous profits - Asha Hospital chairman Speaking to
reporters at the launch of a Ultra Violet Phototheraphy Unit for
Dermatology, he said that some of the modern medical equipment cost
a large amount of money. The period of recovery of capital investment
would extend to about 7 - 8 years due to the low fees they charge
from the patients. He said that
though they were very expensive, unlike in the old days, some of
this equipment lasted only three to four years, making it impossible
to recover the cost of the investment. On the other hand the local
agents of these equipment in Sri Lanka were only concerned in selling
but were least concerned on repair and maintenance in time. Dr Fernando
said that he had obtained a legal document ensuring that repair
and maintenance would be carried on for a specific period. When some of
this equipment packed up, often they have to be sent them to Japan
or the USA for repairs. Dr. Fernando suggested that a Bio-Medical
Technology Department of Sri Lanka be developed to carry out the
repair work of these sophisticated medical equipment whereby some
income could be accrued while preventing a drain on foreign exchange.
He also said that duplicating the same equipment in several hospitals
would be uneconomical due to the huge cost involved since a limited
number got services from such equipment. Dermatologist
Dr. D N Athukorale explaining the techniques involved in the equipment
said that there were six types of skins and the brown skin, which
Sri Lankans have, was the fifth type. He said that the equipment,
which produces certain specific type of Ultra Violet rays, could
treat such skin diseases as Psoriasis (Pothu Kabara), Vitiligo,
Extensive Lichen Planus, Atopic Dermatitis, Mycosis Fungoides and
Generalised Pruritus. Endorsing the
views expressed by Dr. Fernando, Dr. Athukorale said that when purchasing
sophisticated medical equipment rather than the cost factor, the
quality of the equipment is very important. He said that when the
government imported a laser machine, it was purchased from the lowest
tender despite strong objections by experts on its unreliable quality.
The cost of the equipment was Rs. 1 billion but it lasted only six months and the supplier had closed his business by that time. |
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