IRD told to come up with a programme to swiftly identify income tax evaders

The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has been instructed to come up with a suitable programme to swiftly identify the income tax evaders, in order to minimise the revenue leakages. 

As the government targets Rs.3.65 trillion in state revenue for this year, Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya at a meeting held at the Finance Ministry yesterday advised the IRD officials to pay equal attention to identify the tax evaders, along with the tax collections.

In particular, he pointed out that the individuals employed in certain professions have been hiding their incomes, in order to evade the income taxes. Therefore, he instructed IRD Commissioner General D.R.S. Hapuarachchi to come up with a suitable programme to swiftly identify such income tax evaders. 

According to the Finance Ministry, 120,965 persons or 2.6 percent of the labour force, who are earning over Rs.100,000 per month, are subjected to the PAYE tax.

For this month, the state revenue is estimated at Rs.173 billion while the recurrent expenditure is estimated at Rs.196 billion, resulting in a shortfall of around Rs.23 billion.