COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will end the practice of charging a 10 percent withholding tax on government securities under a new Inland Revenue Act to be effective from April 2017. During the ‘committee stage’ of legislating the new bill, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera moved changes to clause 84 of the proposed bill last week.
The new section d) of clause 84 adds the exemption that ‘discount interest or paid to a person on security of treasury bond under the Registered Stock and Securities Ordinance (Chapter 420) or Treasury bills under the Local Treasury Bills Ordinance (Chapter 417)’. At the moment, a 10 percent withholding tax is in effect for Treasury bills. Interest is quoted in the market net of tax.
