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Tax relief benefits to reach people will take some time: Officials
View(s):Although most of the recently announced tax reliefs are effective from December 1, it would take some time for people to experience the actual benefits since coordination among traders, relevant stakeholders and state regulators is vital during the implementation process, senior government officials said.
Inland Revenue Department officials said some new tax relief policy decisions were being implemented from last Sunday, but other the key tax policy decisions required amendments to the relevant laws prior to implementation.
“We are not a policy making body. We are only involved in the implementation process of the government tax policies once they are approved by the Cabinet or Parliament. We have taken adequate steps to implement the tax relief package,” Inland Revenue Commissioner General Nadun Guruge told the Sunday Times.
She said the new government had revised the whole taxation policy by scrapping more than twenty direct and indirect taxes introduced by the previous government. “ In the past, the taxation was complicated due to higher number of taxes and policies, now a comparatively an effective taxation mechanism is put in place,” she said.
A senior Treasury official involved in the taxation policy affairs told the Sunday Times that to reduce NBT, VAT and PAYE tax, his department was drafting amendments to the relevant Acts and they would be tabled in Parliament next month after its resumes sittings.
The Government said the new tax relief incentives given to employees by increasing the PAYE tax threshold and to tourism, Information Technology services, construction industry, property market, rural agriculture and foreign employment sectors were expected to drive the economy with price stability.