Tax defaulters be warned; your property is to be seized

A staggering Rs. 170 billion in tax arrears has prompted the Department of Inland Revenue to take steps to seize movable and immovable properties of defaulters, Corporate Tax Commissioner Bandula Haputhanthrige said yesterday.

He said the department would implement regulations introduced in 2006 to seize the properties of tax defaulters.

“The number of defaulters is on the rise and it is difficult to achieve our targets. The current recovery process is slow. We need to expedite it,” he said.

Mr. Haputhanthrige said that though there was provision to seize and sell movable and immovable properties, there had been practical difficulties mainly in storing movable properties such as vehicles.

“We have now taken measures to overcome such problems and the regulations could now be implemented. We will now seize the properties of tax defaulters and sell them to recover the money,” he said

The commissioner said the defaulters had been regularly warned and now the properties could be seized without any further warning.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa during the budget debate said he proposed to introduce a re-finance facility to provide a 5-year loan at 6 per cent interest from all banks to encourage defaulters to pay their tax arrears.

“I expect to recover Rs. 40,000 million of arrears through this measure,” he added. “I invite the judiciary, the Tax Department and default taxpayers to assist to conclude the settlement of disputed tax and EPF payment arrears accordingly within 6 months. I propose to vest in the State, property corresponding to such arrears of default taxpayers who do not make use of this opportunity,” the President said.