COLOMBO, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka has tightened its alcohol excise tax regulations, with a new government gazette introducing stricter deadlines and penalties to boost compliance and revenue collection.
The notification, issued by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in his capacity as minister of finance and economic development, takes immediate effect.
Under the revised rules, all licensed alcohol manufacturers must now pay their excise taxes by the stipulated deadline in line with Section 22 of the Excise Ordinance. Failure to do so within 30 days will result in the suspension of their bottling license.
If taxes or related fees remain unpaid for more than 90 days, all licenses held by the defaulter will be suspended. Previously, the suspension period for non-compliance was six months, which has now been shortened to three months, marking a significant tightening of enforcement.
The Excise Department said that although such provisions existed in the law, they had not been actively enforced until now. The new gazette makes these measures binding, reflecting the government's renewed focus on improving tax discipline and ensuring timely revenue collection in the excise sector.
Taxes collected by the Excise Department are one of the main sources of government revenue. Targeted excise revenue for this year is 242 billion rupees (about 806 million U.S. dollars). ■
