2 September 2019 12:01 am
The government is estimated to be losing nearly 20 percent revenue from Sri Lanka Customs (SLC) due to various revenue leakages, according to the Treasury.
A senior Treasury official revealed that under-invoicing, under-valuation and misclassification have been identified as main reasons for revenue leakages from the SLC.
He noted that SLC officials cannot be solely blamed as the private sector too is looking for every possible loophole to evade taxes.
He further pointed out that it has become almost impossible to identify these leakages due to the un-systematic manner of industrial development in the country.
However, speaking of vehicle imports, he noted that the government was able to arrest revenue leakages by introducing a unit-based duty mechanism. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera earlier this year pointed out that revenue leakages at SLC as the main reason for SLC failing to meet its 2018 target of Rs.1, 068 billion.
SLC was only able to collect Rs.921 billion despite 8.3 percent growth in imports and 15 percent rupee devaluation in 2018.