Customs to recover Rs. 9 bln in dues
View(s):Sri Lanka Customs has been directed to take immediate action to recover an astounding sum of Rs. 9 billion in import duty arrears accumulated during a 5-year period, official sources said.
The Treasury has instructed the Customs Department to streamline and expedite the revenue collection as the country is cash strapped. Customs is planning to set up a separate division to tackle recoveries, a top government official revealed.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has also highlighted the inaction of the Customs Department to recover the mounting arrears. The need to establish a special unit to look into matters pertaining to recoveries and strengthen internal auditing at the department has been emphasized at a top level meeting held at the Treasury, he added.
This division should be entrusted with the task of investigating into misleading descriptions, under declarations (under invoicing) and a host of other excuses in an attempt to avoid or reduce the duties payable to customs, officials who attended the meeting suggested.
Customs has also failed to recover a sum of Rs. 529.3 million from minor import duties and it has to recover Rs.102.5 million from four companies as production taxes.
Customs have also been unable to collect Rs. 14 billion by way of Excise Tax- Motor vehicles, Rs.869 million by way of Special Commodity Levy and Rs. 4 billion by way of Cess Levy-Import, the official said.
In spite of shortfalls, revenue from import duties increased by 14.1 per cent to Rs. 129.8 billion last year from the previous year, he said.