Vehicle prices unchanged despite tax relief: Importers Assn.

There would be no effect on the import tax on motor vehicles despite the major tax concessions which were announced on Wednesday. Only the prices of buses and trucks registered less than five years from the country of export could be reduced the Vehicle Importers Association of Sri Lanka (VIASL) Chairman Ranjan Peiris said.

He said that the prices of buses and trucks could come down by about Rs.50,000.

“There is no effect in the import tax on motor vehicles, despite the major tax concessions,” Mr Ranjan Peiris said.

"The proposed tax concessions are not relevant to vehicle imports because a fixed unit rate was based on such vehicles,” he said.

“There is no price change when importing vehicles. Customs Tax is continued to be charged on buses, cars, SUVs and vans according to unit rate-based duty scheme,” he said.

Major tax concessions, including the reduction of the VAT and the cancellation of the NBT, Debit tax, PAYE tax and Withholding Tax on interest was announced by the government on Wednesday. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)