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In 2015, the government imposed a one-off Casino Industry levy of LKR 1 Bn each on the 4 Casinos established in Sri Lanka. As a result, a total of LKR 4 Bn was owed to the Inland Revenue Department. However, by the end of 2015, only LKR 80 Mn had been collected from these businesses.
In 2016, the Auditor General’s (AG) report revealed that only LKR 400 Mn had been collected so far from these entities, and no action had been taken to recover the remaining LKR 3.6 Bn and this had also not been recorded as ‘tax arrears.
In 2019, a cumulative total of only LKR 1,330 Mn had yet been collected. A further LKR 2,670 Mn remained unrecovered.
Even in 2021, 2 years later, the Inland Revenue Department revealed that casino businesses still owed them a total of LKR 2.67 Bn in tax arrears, highlighting the minimal progress of collecting these taxes.
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