IRD registers 200,000 new taxpayers in 2025; tax revenue on the rise

24 November 2025 02:07 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 2 Bookmark

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By Poojathmi Rivithma

Colombo, Nov. 24 (Daily Mirror) - The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) announced that 200,000 new taxpayers have been registered so far in 2025.

Senior Deputy Commissioner of the IRD, P. Nandana Kumara, said that 18,000 new company registrations have also been recorded this year.

According to the Department, the number of individual taxpayers has now risen to 1.2 million, while excise duty registrations have reached 30,000—an indication of strengthened tax administration.

Meanwhile, tax revenue, which stood at Rs. 1,025 billion in 2019, dropped to Rs. 523 billion in 2020 before rising slightly to Rs. 632 billion in 2021. Collections increased significantly in the following years, reaching Rs. 1,058 billion in 2022 and Rs. 1,842 billion in 2023. The upward trend continued in 2024, marking the highest-ever collection of Rs. 2,620 billion, with officials expecting to meet the annual target for 2025 as well.

Kumara added that, compared to the previous year, VAT collections have increased by 21% and income tax revenue by 14%.

Officials also noted that the tax threshold has been raised from Rs. 1.2 million to Rs. 1.8 million for 2025.

Comments - 2

Kandy whip Monday, 24 November 2025 09:22 PM

The news of the IRD achieving its highest-ever revenue is indeed encouraging and the officials deserve commendation for their effort. However, this outcome has largely been driven by significantly increased taxation on the public—understandable given the need to recover from the worst economic crisis since independence. Yet, the fact that revenue collection has exceeded targets suggests a shortfall in the government’s planning. If taxation in certain areas had been rationalized, the IRD could still have met its targets without placing an excessive burden on taxpayers. While exceeding targets is usually applauded, this principle cannot be applied blindly to tax collection. Surpassing IRD revenue targets often reflects policy miscalculations that ultimately fall on innocent taxpayers. There is considerable scope to reform and rationalize taxes under the IRD’s purview to offer relief to the public, without compromising annual revenue goals.

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Avery Markham Tuesday, 25 November 2025 01:25 PM

How many of these files yield over 1 lakh in annual taxes?

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222

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