The Government has decided to refund the five percent withholding tax levied on the interest and taxable income of senior citizens after September 10 if the interest income is less than Rs.100,000 per month. Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that this decision was taken with Finance Minister President Ranil Wickremesinghe after considering the situation of senior citizens.
The State Minister revealed these facts while participating as the chief guest at the tenth Annual General Meeting of the Inland Revenue Assessors’ Union (IRAU) held yesterday (29) in Colombo.
A five percent withholding tax has been levied from January 1, 2023, not only on senior citizens, but also on those earning an interest income of more than Rs 1.2 million per annum.
But there have been many requests to refund this withholding tax to senior citizens who earn less than Rs. 100,000 per month. “We considered it sympathetically and negotiated with the Inland Revenue Department to refund the five percent deducted as withholding tax to the senior citizens who receive interest income of less than Rs. 100,000 per month. Accordingly, they agreed to refund the amount deducted from September 10,” he noted.
Dharma Sri Abeyratne
