Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2018-06-19

Amendments to the relevant Tax Legislation for providing tax reliefs

Approval of the Cabinet has been granted previously to amend the Value Added Tax (VAT), Nation Building Tax (NBT) and the Economic Service Charges (ESC), for the maintenance of a stable Government Revenue. However, taking into consideration the requests made by various stakeholders, it has been found that it would be appropriate to remove certain taxes so imposed. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, the Minister of Finance and Mass Media, to amend the relevant legislation to remove the Value Added Tax (VAT) imposed on the Medical Consultation fees, channeling fees and the fees paid to the Medical Practitioners, to relieve the construction services provided under the construction agreements entered into before 01st August 2017 from the Nation Building Tax (NBT) and to release the unrealized foreign exchange benefits of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka from the Economic Service Charges (ESC), was approved by the Cabinet.