Govt plans e-invoicing for VAT, digitally linking tax payers to IRD
- CNL Reporter
- July 3, 2025
- Political
- e-invoicing
- 0 Comments
Sri Lanka is working on starting e-invoices which will be directly linked to the tax office to digitalize the value added tax payments, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Anil Jayantha Fernando said.
“We have to bring the mechanism of VAT collection, calculation and transmission to the government into technology,” Minister Fernando told parliament.“As a first step, for chosen sectors, especially for high value individuals, this e-invoicing will be introduced. We are taking the required technical assistance and advice from international agencies.
“We will also take this to Point of Sale (POS) machines, where information will be communicated immediately to the Department of Inland Revenue as soon as a sale is made.”“We will connect exporters as the first step.”
E-invoices will speed up VAT refunds for exporters he said. At the moment Sri Lanka’s exporters do not have to pay VAT on imports in the first place under a so-called SVAT system.
