Businesses with daily turnover exceeding 100,000 rupees must register for VAT

Enterprises and service providers generating a daily turnover above 100,000 rupees face mandatory registration for Value Added Tax and the Social Security Contribution Levy from the start of July. Inland Revenue Senior Deputy Commissioner of the Nuwara Eliya District, E D Karunaratne, announced the mandate during an awareness workshop conducted for local business operators and service providers.

The annual turnover floor for registration dropped to 36 million rupees from the previous 60 million rupees. Consequently, service providers, wholesalers, retailers, and manufacturing operations hitting or exceeding the 36 million rupee taxable annual benchmark must comply with registration. Karunaratne stated that operators can finalise registration digitally or via any Inland Revenue Department branch, confirming that all required infrastructure is active. He explained that direct tax yields remain inadequate, prompting authorities to lower indirect tax floors to broaden the tax base and protect state finances. He noted that the public ultimately bears the tax burden as consumers, leaving the business community to collect and transfer the funds to the state.