Sri Lanka’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has issued notices to nearly 1000 companies requesting to settle their tax arrears amounting to more than Rs 160 billion, it was reported.
According to the Sunday Times, IRD Commissioner General Sepalika Chandrasekara said the companies must settle their arrears in six months or face seizure of bank accounts and property.
Chandrasekara further said that the companies had been given notice to pay the arrears, which had been due up to the end of last year, in six months without any extensions.
Stating that some companies had responded and agreed to the seizure of their properties enabling the IRD to collect the arrears payments, Chandrasekara said the companies that had defaulted on their tax payments were being summoned to the IRD to discuss the possibility of recovering the arrears.
According to IRD Commissioner General, among the tax defaulters, are liquor companies, hotels and real estate firms.
“The IRD is following a strict procedure for collecting the arrears and maximum powers under the Inland Revenue Act would be imposed for the recovery. The IRD has also appointed an 11-member committee under a Deputy Commissioner General to collect the tax arrears,” Chandrasekara added. (NewsWire)