By: Staff Writer

March 08, Colombo (LNW): Marina Square – Uptown Colombo announced the launch of “Sky-High Sundowns,” a series of exclusive investor forums aimed at exploring the dynamic real estate market of today and offering attendees a keen understanding of the pertinent factors at play in the current real estate investment landscape of the country.

The series was launched against the backdrop of the stunning ocean, Colombo harbour and city skyline views that the development is privy to at an event recently.

Through the interactive discussions, show-arounds, and expert insights facilitated, attendees were afforded the opportunity to gain invaluable perspective for investors looking to maximise their returns and mitigate risks while staying ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving real estate sector.

“In an age where informed decisions are paramount, particularly due to the increasingly dynamic nature of the investment environment, we felt this was a pertinent time to launch this series. We steadfastly believe that an informed buyer makes the best decisions, and we hope this series will help investors navigate the intricate world of real estate investment with more confidence,” explained Kosala Wickramasinghe, Executive Director of Marina Square, speaking at the exclusive event.

Offering a forward-thinking approach and covering topics ranging from market trends and analysis to emerging opportunities, the event introduced Marina Square’s new InvestPro+ Payment Plan, a variation of the popular InvestPro Payment Plan, uniquely curated for the current investment market.

With a new episode of the series planned for every month, “Sky-High Sundowns by Marina Square” promises to provide a platform for investors to connect, collaborate, and unlock exclusive new opportunities amidst the breathtaking sea and cityscapes.

Offering stunning views of the ocean, Colombo Harbour, and Skyline, Marina Square, which is scheduled for completion in December 2025, is located on a five-acre expanse and boasts 1088 condominiums across five towers of 36 floors, including two acres of open to sky gardens and recreational areas.

Its prime location, just 2km from the highly anticipated Colombo International Financial City (Port City) and 400m from the Port Access Elevated Highway, along with an extensive array of common amenities ranging from an infinity pool to barbecue coves, camping areas, walking and jogging tracks to a multipurpose court, squash courts, and rooftop skydecks, succeed in positioning Marina Square as a landmark development in the heart of tomorrow’s Colombo.

By: Staff Writer

March 08, Colombo (LNW): The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) will be paying closer attention to the tax compliance of highly wealthy individuals numbering 137 in the country as a part of the IRD’s efforts to restore fairness and confidence in Sri Lanka’s tax administration by ensuring that the wealthy contribute their fair share and pay the right amount of taxes.

Sri Lanka which has a population of 22 million only had 137 persons who paid income taxes above 5 million rupees and there were only 3,020 value added tax files, official data showed.

Sri Lanka had 5.8 million households and there were 293,305 tax files in 2020 and 120,000 had filed returns in 2021. About and 58,000 had paid tax.

Of the total 28,621 individuals had paid less than 10,000 rupees, 22,368 had paid 100,000 rupees or less, and 5,493 had paid 500,000 rupees or less,.

For the purpose of serving high net worth tax payers a High Wealth Individuals Unit (HWIU) has been established at the IRD, which is located in the Large Taxpayer Office.

Accordingly, the HWIU has received additional resources to focus on high-income and high-wealth individuals.

As a first measure, the HWIU will be contacting a select number of wealthy individuals and will work with them and their advisors to ensure that they are up to date with their filings of Tax Returns.

IRD will also help them identify and avoid mistakes or omissions early in the filing process. The HWIU will be conducting additional risk assessments and profiling of wealthy taxpayers to conduct audits on cases that have the highest risks.

At the same time, the IRD is enhancing its collaboration with both domestic and international organizations to access information that will help the HWIU to identify potential tax non-compliance.

The IRD will also be working closely with Banks, the Financial lntelligence Unit (FIU) and other tax administrations through its extensive Treaty network with 45 countries.

This collaboration will help the HWIU to identify banking records and assets of wealthy individuals that may not have been disclosed.

The IRD is committed to monitoring the tax compliance of wealthy individuals and their related groups.

By enhancing the focus and engaging with them, the IRD can be confident that wealthy individuals are duly paying their right amount of taxes.

Through this engagement approach, we hope to enhance their willingness to participate and contribute to the government’s revenue collection efforts to overcome the critical socio-economic issues confronted by the country, said the Inland Revenue Department in a statement issued on Thursday (7).

By: Staff Writer

March 08, Colombo (LNW): Land Management Trust is to be established to address various challenges and inconsistencies surrounding the utilisation of Government lands across the country.

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the establishment of this trust as land management in Sri Lanka appears to be all over the place.

Several ministries and Government departments appear to be responsible for State land management including for forests management, wildlife conservation area management, residual land management agriculture land management and tea, rubber and coconut land management.

At present, the Government owns around 82% of the total land area in the country, managed by various agencies tasked with protecting and controlling these lands, cabinet spoksman minister Bandula Gunawrdena said.

However, the absence of a unified approach has led to numerous issues in releasing Government land for investment purposes.

These challenges have hindered investment opportunities, potential for new industries, services and job creation.

The establishment of a dedicated mechanism with proper authority is considered essential to overcome these obstacles and create a conducive environment for investments

A Circular enabling Government to hand over forests to companies enforced’ on 9 November states that “In a blatant move of violating eco-conservation laws, the Government has issued a circular, 1/2020, enabling them to hand over lands to multinational companies and businessmen, by revoking the Circular ‘05/2001,’ ‘02/2006,’ ‘5/98’ issued for the protection of the remaining remnant forests for the acquisition of lands required for the National Physical Plan implemented till 2050.

This 82.25% of land belongs equally to the 22 million people of the country living now and the future generations yet to be born. This land is held in trust by all governments on behalf of both components of owners

A land policy therefore cannot benefit a few ministers and parliamentarians and their dependents, but the current and yet to be born Sri Lankans.

Neither can a land policy benefit a country other than Sri Lanka. Selling State land to foreigners will not benefit Sri Lanka. In fact, it will have a negative effect in the long term.

It is presumed that State lands include forest land, wildlife conservation lands, wildlife lands, agriculture land and estate land that belongs to the State, unproductive land distributed amongst these (probably what is termed residual land) and other classified lands. It is not clear whether temple, church, mosque and kovil land is included as State land.

By: Staff Writer

March 08, Colombo (LNW): The government has taken necessary policy measures to prevent corruption vulnerabilities occurring at points of interaction between Inland Revenue Department officials and the public, State Ministry of Finance sources divulged.

It has been observed that the tax amount in default as at 30.06.2023 is approximately Rs. 7.72 billion.

The IRD officials have said that only Rs. 175 billion out of Rs. 904 billion could be recovered, but no action has been taken by the department so far.

This is magnified when revenue officials exercise discretion without adequate safeguards with opportunities when assessing income or expenses, classifying goods and tax rates, or granting concessions.

Cumbersome procedures that are open to abuse, along with collusion between officials create strong incentives in an environment of few, if any, consequences for a taxpayer to offer and/or for a revenue official to solicit a bribe.

Such deals benefit the colluding corrupt parties at the expense of the government and wider society, a high official of the ministry said.

Revenue collection agencies internationally are renowned to be some of the most corruption-prone government institutions.

Countering this risk requires an explicit policy of high integrity and zero-tolerance to corruption supported by robust institutional arrangements to enforce and reinforce such a culture.

These characteristics are mostly absent in Sri Lanka; an observation confirmed by the business community and accounting profession.

Corruption vulnerabilities occur at points of interaction between revenue officials and the public.

The total number of personal tax files stood at 292,000 that was only 10 per cent of the eligible taxes paid through these files.

On the other hand there are 105,000 registered companies, but only 15 per cent of them are contributing to tax revenue.

Surprisingly, a significant 86 per cent of the government’s revenue is receiving from a mere 494 companies, Ministry data showed.

The target of IRD is in the process of opening up 1.2 million tax files whilst the target of tax files given by the Budget 2023 is 1.5 million.

However, IRD has not yet identified a mechanism to achieve the target of opening 1.2 million tax files which was set by the IRD itself. It has been revealed that it would take a number of years to fulfil this task.

This is magnified when revenue officials exercise discretion without adequate safeguards with opportunities when assessing income or expenses, classifying goods and tax rates, or granting concessions.

While this policy is justified by the specialised nature of revenue administration, it acts as a binding constraint that has led to very inward-looking institutions that are reluctant to change, particularly given strong union influences.

Furthermore, the revenue departments are hamstrung from building skills and expertise needed for the modern economy, with the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) unable to recruit specialist information technology staff and data analysts needed to move away from the corruption-prone embedded work practices.