10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Arjuna Sujeewa Senasinghe, Attorney-at-Law

Samagi Jana Balawegaya· National List· 19 May 2026 ·Debate: Debate: Second Reading of Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill and Committee Stage

Public Finance
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Arjuna Sujeewa Senasinghe moved three amendments to a tax-related Bill concerning enforcement against non-compliance with notices issued by the Commissioner-General. He proposed extending the compliance period from 30 to 90 days with staggered penalties, targeting only fraudulent or willful tax evasion, and preventing action under section 185A(2) where the person had already been punished or fined under Chapter XVII within the previous three years.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Thank you very much, Madam Presiding Member.

¶ 02 We proposed in the first amendment to change 30 days to 90 days, allowing for staggered penalties at 30, 60 and 90 days to ensure deliberate tax evaders are effectively dealt with.

¶ 03 Madam Presiding Member, our second amendment is to apprehend those who willfully evade taxes.

¶ 04 Accordingly, I move the following three amendments:

¶ 05 (1) On page 39, delete line 13 and substitute: “within ninety days from such date such person shall”

¶ 06 (2) On page 39, delete lines 19 to 22 and substitute: “where due to fraudulent reasons, any person fails to act in compliance with a notice issued under subsection (1) by the Commissioner-General”

¶ 07 (3) On page 39, immediately after line 31, insert the following new subsection: “(3) The Commissioner-General shall not act under section 185A(2) if such person has, within the previous three years, been subjected to a punishment or fine under Chapter XVII of this Act.”

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Tuesday, 19 May 2026 ·No. 23608 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Arjuna Sujeewa Senasinghe, Attorney-at-Law. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 19 May 2026. No. 23608. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/29288