(COLOMBO) - The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has informed the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) that 198,253 new taxpayers have been registered so far in 2023.

The Inland Revenue Department officials said it has been identified that there are about 16 million citizens over the age of 18 and special programmes are being implemented to include them in the tax payment.

This was revealed when the Committee on Public Accounts met in Parliament recently under the chairmanship of Lasantha Alagiyawanna to examine the Auditor General's reports and the current performance of the Inland Revenue Department for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021.
       
The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) was questioned by COPA whether the government is properly receiving the Value Added Tax (VAT) paid by the public for various goods and services. 

At present, about thirteen thousand institutions have registered for the VAT and the Inland Revenue Department officials said they are investigating into the payment of this tax to the government by these institutions. The committee pointed out that the institutions that collect VAT from the public should prepare a system to remit the taxes correctly to the government.

The committee chairman asked the officials whether there is a possibility to take over and maintain the RAMIS computer system in the Inland Revenue Department itself. However, the IRD officials informed the Committee that they cannot take over and maintain the system due to the lack of proper human resources.

It was revealed in the committee that six institutions have already been connected to the RAMIS computer system and the Department of the Registrar of Companies is still delayed in being connected to the RAMIS system due to some technical reason. 

Accordingly, the committee recommended the Department of the Registrar of Companies to immediately upgrade their system and connect with the RAMIS system. A report on its progress was also directed to be forwarded to the committee before January 01, 2023.