Govt. gazettes...

This one-time tax will not be applicable to vehicles imported by diplomatic missions and dual purpose petrol vehicles with cylinder capacity not exceeding 2,200cc.

A tax called ‘Vehicle Entitlement Levy’ has also been slapped on every importer of motor vehicles while a ‘Carbon Tax’, as proposed in the Budget 2018, will be levied on motor vehicles based on their age and fuel type.

Electric vehicles are exempt from the tax. The vehicle owner should pay the tax for every year other than for the first year of registration of the motor vehicle to the Divisional Secretary, on or before the due date of renewal of annual registration.

Meanwhile, amendments to the Finance Act also propose to impose an ‘Annual Company Registration Levy’ for every company incorporated or registered under the Companies Act.

A public listed company will be charged a fee of Rs.1.5 million on annual company registration while a private company will have to pay Rs.300,000. However, this tax will not be applicable to off-shore and limited by guarantee companies.

The amendments to Finance Act further propose to slap a 7 percent ‘Debt Repayment Levy’ on financial institutions that will be charged for every month commencing from the date of commencement of the act, on the value addition attributable to the supply of financial services by these institutions.

A levy of 25 cents has also been proposed on each mobile short message (SMS) on bulk advertisement through SMS.

The amendments to the Finance Act are to be presented to Parliament for first reading shortly.