2 February 2017 09:28 am
Therefore, the interim report of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee recommends that there should be a mechanism to receive a declaration from each and every adult of the country to evaluate whether a personal income tax file should be opened or not.
If this is a difficult process to implement, the Committee felt that the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) should at least share the data with the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) since it was reported that there are over 6 million vehicles registered at present as there are no legal barriers to share the information with the Registrar of Motor Vehicles (RMV).
The newest COPA report that contains data of audit inquiries and accounts of all public institutions and semi government institution in 2015 and the first half of 2016 has been tabled in Parliament by the Chairman of the COPA, Deputy Minister of Megapolis and Western Development Lasantha Alagiyawanna.
With regard to the direct collection of VAT and NBT by IRD, the Committee notes that, in respect of commodities (goods), there is no proper nomenclature and classification system such as Harmonized System adopted by Customs and there is no proper valuation system such as World Trade Organization (WTO) Valuation System adopted by all over the world.
In the absence of such systems for commodity taxation, the Committee felt that it would lead to corrupt practices leading to loss of due revenue.
It was also reported that the number of VAT registered persons are 15,696 and VAT registered financial Institutions are 229. The Committee felt that these numbers may not reflect the actual situation. The Sub Committee therefore felt that the IRD should develop a suitable mechanism to recover the due VAT revenue to the government.
With regard to the Cooperate taxes also, the Committee felt that the current number of corporate tax files 47,154 may not reflect the actual position. The IRD should look into this by sharing information with the Department of Registration of Companies.
The Committee noted that the audit procedure of Declarations and Tax Files and investigation procedures should be looked into carefully to minimize revenue leakages by optimum use of appropriate available human resources, ICT and other resources.
At present IRD is in the process of implementing Revenue Administration Management Information System (RAMIS) with the assistance of Singapore Government. This project has started in July 2014 and the first phase would be completed in Sep. 2016 and the second phase to be completed by December 2016. (Sandun A Jayasekera)