DailyMirror
Taxes running to the tune of Rs. 179 billion had been defaulted in 2008, and of this amount Rs.88 billion had been categorized as disputed taxes, according to the annual report of the Inland Revenue Department presented in Parliament yesterday.
The disputed taxes mean those of which the assessment has been challenged legally during the collection process. The report says that Rs. 48 billion of this amount is penalty, and the total collectible taxes excluding penalty Rs. 43 billion.
The Department set up a special collection unit to collect the taxes in arrears on January 1, 2008 with a view to take appropriate action regarding the collection of defaulted taxes of Rs. 158 billion reported in 2007.
According to the report, the Department has set a target to collect Rs. 15 billion of this amount within a period of three years. In 2008, the Department was able to recover Rs. 7.8 billion as against the target of Rs. 5 billion set for the year.
Out of gross tax revenue in default, Rs. 74 billion is from income tax, Rs. 2 billion from Surcharge on Income Tax, Rs. 81 billion from Value Added Tax. Besides, Rs. 6 billion is due from Turnover Tax, Rs. 4 billion from the National Security Levy and another Rs. 4 billion from Goods and Services Tax.
The Department has collected tax revenue amounting to Rs. 344 billion during the year. The total expenditure of the Department for the year was Rs. 1.3 billion meaning that the cost of collection for Rs. 100 is 40 cents. This tax revenue accounted for 52.59 percent of the government’s total income.
The government had received Rs. 308 billon in terms of tax revenue from the Department in 2007, Rs. 253 billion in 2006, Rs.198 billion in 2005 and Rs. 164 in 2004.