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| Sunday, 02 April 2006 |
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No penalty for outstanding taxes, VAT- Commissioner General by Lalin Fernandopulle Taxpayers can pay their outstanding taxes including income tax and VAT without a penalty from April 1 to June 30, said the new Commissioner General of Inland Revenue Department A. A. Wijepala. Wijepala who assumed duties on Monday said that he plans to achieve a revenue target of Rs. 260 billion for 2006. Though this is a daunting task with a proper network and effective administrative structure, it could be achieved, he said. Wijepala said that he had instructed his officers how to carry out the procedure for tax refunding. If the VAT refunding exceeds Rs. 10 million per month, officers must carry out a field audit every six months. If the input of a refund claim is higher than the output for three months then officers would have to do a field audit. This is to avoid misappropriation that could run into large sums, he said. For new businesses the first refund will be issued only after a field audit. Wijepala said new taxpayers could go to any regional office or information branch of the Head Office to open a file. There are 15 regional offices, he said. The Inland Revenue Department plans to increase the number of individual taxpayers this year. At present there are only 322,000 taxpayers and by the end of 2006 we hope to add 40,000 more to the tax net, Wijepala said. There would be 50,000 new taxpayers to the net each year beginning 2007. This would be a fairly decent contribution to government revenue, he said. Taxpayers will not be penalised for the previous years' defaults but would be asked to pay a reasonable rate for the current year. Officers will help the taxpayers to fill the returns without a fee. He said if someone has a net income of Rs. 500,000, he has to pay an income tax of Rs. 10,000 which is a negligible amount. If one continues to default then he has to pay the price, Wijepala said. While tax money is a contribution to the country it is incumbent upon the government to provide a better social welfare system, he said. |
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