‘Excess exports VAT could be set off against other taxes’

TAX: Un-refunded VAT (approved by the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue) paid in excess by exporters could be set off against other taxes.

This was disclosed at a seminar orgnaised by the National Chamber of Commerce NCCSL last week.

The seminar was addressed by Deputy Commissioner General of Inland Revenue Department R.K.H. Kaluarachchi, Deputy Commissioner - VAT Inland Revenue Department D.S.K. de Costa, Finance Director, Millers Ltd S.R. Balachandran and Chartered Accountant and Tax Consultant N.R. Gajendran.

There are many exporters who should get VAT refunds from the Department of Inland Revenue for about last 2 - 3 years and this has blocked working capital thereby hindering their export activities, some of the participants said.

The Deputy Commissioner General of Inland Revenue Kaluarachchi said, the Department is working to refund or set off the excess VAT paid by the exporters in importing raw materials against other taxes.

He said the department has been strengthened with required staff members to make the tax administration more efficient.

Under the normal circumstances, claiming of input tax is confined to a maximum of 85% of the output tax or the total value of the input tax which ever is less and the balance could be carried forward to the following period.