Inland Revenue Act 2017 · As enacted · Part II
167. Departure Prohibition Order
Official English translation. The Sinhala text prevails. Open the official Sinhala text, official PDF on documents.gov.lk
Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged
Where the Commissioner-General is of opinion that any person who is a defaulter is about to or likely to leave Sri Lanka without paying:—
tax that is payable by that person; or
tax that is payable by a company in which that person is a controlling member, which has become default as assessed upon his or otherwise, he may issue a certificate containing particulars of such tax and the name of such person to a Magistrate, who shall on receipt thereof issue a direction to the Controller General of
Immigration and Emigration to take such measures as may be necessary to prevent such person from leaving Sri Lanka without paying the tax or furnishing security to the satisfaction of the Commissioner-General, for payment thereof.
At the time of issue of the certificate to the Magistrate, the Commissioner-General shall issue to such person a notification thereof by registered post. However, the non-receipt of any such notification by such person shall not invalidate preceedings under this section.
Where the Commissioner-General has reasonable grounds to believe that the departure from Sri Lanka of any person who is a defaulter referred to in subsection (1) is imminent and that sufficient time is not available to act in terms of subsection (1), the Commissioner-General may issue a departue prohibition order, in writing, to the Controller
General of Immigration and Emigration stating—
the name and address of the person;
the amount of tax that is or will become payable by the person or by the company in which the person is a controlling member, and the Controller General of Immigration and
Emigration shall take such measures as may be necessary to prevent such person from leaving Sri Lanka without paying the tax or furnishing security to the satisfaction of the Commissioner-General, for payament thereof:
Provided however that the Commissioner General shall, as soon as may be practicable and in any event within seventy two hours of issuing such departure prohibition Order, make an application to the Magistrate to have the Order confirmed. Such departure prohibition
Order shall be treated as revoked where no application has been made to the Magistrate within the aforementioned time period.
The production of a certificate signed by the
Commissioner-General or a Deputy Commissioner, stating that the tax has been paid or that security had been furnished to for the payment of the tax, or payment of the tax to a police officer in charge of a police station, shall be sufficient authority for allowing such person to leave Sri Lanka. Any police officer to whom the amount of any tax has been paid shall forthwith pay such amount to the Commissioner-General.