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Finance Ministry plans to raise excise revenue target by Rs. 50 billion next year
View(s):By Damith Wickremasekara
The Finance Ministry has earmarked distillery companies to raise next year’s excise revenue target by Rs 50 billion through the introduction of revenue collection measures.
Under the new directive to be issued by the Excise Department, hotels, restaurants, liquor shops,
bars and supermarkets will be given only a seven-day credit period by the manufacturer.
Distillery companies have been directed to collect dues from retail sales outlets within seven days of providing supplies and make payments to the state within 15 days, as against three months taken earlier, Additional Excise Commissioner General (Revenue and Law Enforcement) Kapila Kumarasiri told the Sunday Times.
He said under excise laws, supplies could not be provided on credit, but the practice had been that companies took long periods to pay the due taxes on the pretext that retail outlets failed to make the payments on time, Mr. Kumarasiri explained.
Under the new system, the Excise Department will be able to institute legal action against the respective institution for defaulting on the payment while stopping supplies.
All companies have also been directed to pay the arrears within the next year.
The measure is expected to raise the target to Rs 230 billion, as compared to Rs 180 billion for this year, he said.
A senior Treasury official said that new measures had been discussed and would be ready for implementation by January.
The Excise Department is also introducing a string of other revenue measures, which include issuing liquor manufacturing licences to new companies after calling for applications, in addition to the introduction of new liquor brands. “This will end the monopoly of some companies while raising revenue,” he added.
Mr. Kumarasinghe said the objective was to enhance the quality of products to produce liquor for the export market.
The Excise Department will establish a Central Excise Laboratory to inspect raw materials for the finished product.
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