Budget proposal to abolish reduced-duty car permits in reverse gear

Reversing the 2016 budget proposal to abolish the reduced-duty vehicle permit scheme, the Finance Ministry has again offered this benefit for senior state officials in accordance with a recent cabinet approval, a circular issued by the ministry revealed.

Sri Lanka's cabinet of ministers has approved a proposal submitted by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake to introduce an amended duty free vehicle permit scheme for providing concessionary vehicle permits for public officers.

Accordingly, the ministry has issued a circular to amend the regulation which allowed tax exemptions for senior state officials to purchase motor vehicles.

Under the amended scheme, a permit holder will be entitled to a 50 per cent waiver on all taxes payable on an imported vehicle valued up to US$30,000.

According to the Ministry, the government has issued over 38,000 vehicle permits to state officers under the previous concessionary scheme since 2010 and the tax waived has exceeded Rs. 143 billion.

Public officers, executive officers in state corporations and statutory boards, doctors and legal officers in government service, vice chancellors, university lecturers and executive non-academic staffers of the universities are eligible for these reduced-duty permits.

A state official should be in public service for more than six years to receive this facility but this period will differ for officers of state corporations and statutory boards.

An individual officer is entitled to two duty-reduced permits during their careers and a second permit will be issued only 10 years after the purchase of the first vehicle under the new scheme.