It was revealed at during a meeting of the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) that the total arrears of taxes, penalties and interest due to the Inland Revenue Department by December 31, 2022 in relation to RAMIS and Legacy systems is Rs. 904,342,180,778 (904 billion).

It was disclosed that an amount of Rs. 163,425,093,401 (163 billion) has been identified as income that can be collected without any legal concern and that Rs. 740,917,087,377 (740 billion) has been identified as income that has been temporarily suspended due to certain reasons.

The Auditor General also pointed out that this amount has been identified as the total arrears of tax to be collected under both RAMIS and Legacy systems and there was a discussion at length about not collecting the revenue due that could be collected off this tax arrears.

The Chair of this Committee, State Minister –  Lasantha Alagiyawanna, recommended that a report be given to COPA with dates containing information on how to collect the tax arrears identified as chargeable income which can be collected least in installments. The Chair also recommended that a separate report should be given on the total outstanding tax amount of 904 billion rupees and the report should state in detail how taxes have been evaded and the reasons for such.

This was disclosed when the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) met recently (12) under the Chairmanship of State Minister – Lasantha Alagiyawanna for the reviewing of the current performance and progress of the Inland Revenue Department which was summoned before COPA on the 28th of November 2022.

It was also discussed that the RAMIS computer system was not at a proper level of operation and that there were no trained personnel to operate the system once it was set up. Therefore, the need to prepare a suitable program for that was mentioned here.

Furthermore, the existence of return cheques worth 2,488,003,615 rupees (2.4 billion) as at 30 June 2022 according to COPA discussion held on 28.11.2022 was also discussed. The officials who were present pointed out that 90% of tax payments are made through the Bank of Ceylon and even though the tax payments are approved on the day they are paid, they are shown as return cheques the next day. Accordingly, the Chair of the Committee contacted the Chairman of Bank of Ceylon via phone during the Committee and gave relevant instructions.

A discussion was also held regarding taxation on the gross collection for the casino business.

State Minister – Diana Gamage, Members of Parliament – Niroshan Perera, J. C. Alawathuwala, Sivagnanam Sritharan, Hector Appuhamy, Isuru Dodangoda and (Dr.) (Ms.) Harini Amarasuriya were present at the Committee meeting held.