Tax holidays under BOI comes to an end

„„By Yohan Perera Sri Lanka will stop granting tax concessions under Board of Investment (BOI) law and it will only available under the provisions in the Inland Revenue Act, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said. Wickremesinghe who announced this decision at the Cabinet told a media briefing yesterday that BOI entities established on or before April 26 will only be entitled to BOI tax concessions.

At the moment there are two agencies giving tax concessions, but in the future only the Finance Ministry which is collecting revenue will grant tax concessions,” Wickremesinghe told reporters. The move is widely regarded as a condition put forward by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a possible funding line in the near future.

However, Minister of Special Projects Dr. Sarath Amunugama who was also present at the press conference assured that the IMF had not put any conditions but had asked the government only to increase its revenue. “Sri Lanka has been a country which does not have a record of defaulting debts and therefore no one imposes strict conditions,” the Minister said.