Colombo, April 1 — The Inland Revenue Department states that individuals with an annual income of less than Rs. 1.8 million can claim advance income tax relief charged on interest or discounts on deposits.
The Department points out that individuals who wish to claim the relevant tax relief should submit a self-declaration to the banks or financial institutions for that purpose.
The Inland Revenue Department has informed banks and financial institutions to implement a 10 percent advance income tax reduction on interest or discounts payable to any depositor starting today (01).
Accordingly, from today, any bank or financial institution acting as a withholding agent for interest, discounts, and income received from Islamic financial transactions with a source in Sri Lanka, payable to any person, must reduce the advance income tax by 10 percent.
However, the relevant circular states that interest income is subject to advance income tax at a rate of 10 percent, but individuals whose total income does not exceed Rs. 1.8 million for the assessment year can claim tax relief. The Inland Revenue Department emphasizes this provision.
Therefore, individuals may submit a self-declaration of their assessable income from all sources for the relevant assessment year to their banks or financial institutions in order to claim the tax relief.
Meanwhile, the government has also taken steps to revise the collection of personal income tax, effective today.
It has been announced that the threshold for personal income tax has been revised from a monthly income of Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 150,000 starting today.
Accordingly, the government states that many low-income earners will now be entitled to tax relief.
In addition, under the amended Inland Revenue Act, a 15 percent tax on income earned from services provided to foreign countries will also come into effect today.
Furthermore, the stamp duty applicable to lease or rental agreements of property has also been increased starting today.
The Ministry of Finance has stated that the previous stamp duty of Rs. 10 per Rs. 1,000 or part thereof has been increased to Rs. 20.
