State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that the IRD has collected to Rs. 430 billion compared to the target of Rs.381 billion in the first quarter of 2024.

But the Parliamentary Committee on Ways and Means in its recent report following an in-depth study stated that the IRD is not in a position to achieve the 2014 tax revenue target as it has so far failed to implement its recommendations aimed at increasing tax revenue collection by 50 per cent.

For the year 2024, the Treasury has set the target of revenue collection at Rs. 2024.44 billion and it is more than half (53 per cent) of the estimated tax revenue of Rs.4164 billion for the year 2024 indicated in the budget 2024.

The budget for the year 2023 had proposed the IRD to open 1.2 million of tax files within the year 2023. However, the IRD succeeded in opening only 368,455 number of tax files in the year 2023 making the total of 997,858 tax files as at 31.12.2023.