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Tax Chief hopes to collect Rs. 40 billion from about 10,000 professionals
The Inland Revenue Department has set an additional target of Rs 40 billion to be raised from professionals who may be evading taxes, a senior official of the Department said.
Commissioner General Nadun Guruge told the Sunday Times a special unit backed by two senior commissioners and 20 deputy and assistant commissioners had been set up to collect the taxes before the end of the year.
He said the move came after an assessment revealed that taxes due to be paid by some of the professionals, including doctors, engineers, lawyers, wedding and event planners and beauty parlours, were not being received, besides those underpaying taxes.
He said they had had information that some 10,600 professionals and those providing professional services were currently evading taxes. He said analyses of credit card payments, bank accounts, information from the Motor Traffic Department and Land Registras had helped them to carry out the investigations.
Among those evading taxes, some had deposited money in banks under different names or bought vehicles and property under different names. The Tax Chief said the department also received information from informants who were entitled to a reward.
“Under the plan we will try to collect the taxes also by imposing penalties or filing action against those evading payments,” he said.
Mr.Guruge said the Inland Revenue Act introduced last year had increased penalties, including jail terms. These moves come as the department has set a target of Rs 800 billion from taxes this year, while last year’s revenue was Rs 652 billion. For this year so far the department has collected a revenue of Rs 485 billion.
He said though the Department was expecting to reach a target of Rs 1,000 billion, the Easter Sunday bombings had an impact on the revenue, including a drop of revenue of about Rs 20 billion from the hotel sector.