The Government is to offer more concessions for those paying more than Rs. 250,000 as tax annually in a fresh bid to raise revenue, a senior Inland Revenue Department (IRD) officer said yesterday. Accordingly, an extra tax rebate on duty free vehicles, extra discounts for early payments, special facilities at the airport and concessions on import [...]

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The Government is to offer more concessions for those paying more than Rs. 250,000 as tax annually in a fresh bid to raise revenue, a senior Inland Revenue Department (IRD) officer said yesterday. Accordingly, an extra tax rebate on duty free vehicles, extra discounts for early payments, special facilities at the airport and concessions on import of goods via the harbour are among the concessions which will be offered, Senior Commissioner P.L.S. Liyanage told the Sunday Times.

The current rebate of 15 per cent on import of duty free vehicles is to be increased to 25 per cent and will be applicable to all vehicles without limitations. Currently the concession of 15 per cent is valid only for vehicles with an engine capacity of 1,600 cc or less. “The main objective is to raise government revenue by encouraging more people to pay their income tax,” Mr. Liyanage explained.

Under the scheme those paying more than Rs. one million as tax will be offered a gold card while those paying more than Rs. 500,000 will be entitled to a silver card. This will give them priority at the Bank of Ceylon, the People’s Banks, state institutions, the airports and ports. ‘The gold and silver cards could also be useful when persons apply for visas to travel to other countries as the foreign missions will be informed that those having these cards are reliable taxpayers,” he said.

Those paying taxes one month ahead of schedule would also be entitled to a discount of 10 per cent under this scheme. The fresh moves come after the failure of a series of attempts to encourage taxpayers to pay their taxes.  In the first five months of this year, the tax collection target had fallen short by Rs. 44 billion. This promoted the department to introduce major management and administrative re-structuring programmes in the tax collection divisions.

The Treasury had set a revenue target of Rs. 189 billion for the first five months. Earlier this year more than 4,000 private companies and individuals who failed to pay their taxes were ordered to do so. They had failed to pay taxes amounting to Rs. 139 billion.

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