As enacted

Contents

55. Amendment of the Fifth Schedule to the principal enactment

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

The Fifth Schedule to the principal enactment is hereby amended as follows: -

(1)

in paragraph 1 of that Schedule-

(a)

in subparagraph (c) of that paragraph, by the substitution for the words “profits remitted to the President’s Fund”, of the words “any sum paid to the Consolidated

Fund or to the President’s Fund”;

(b)

by the insertion immediately after subparagraph (c) of that paragraph, of the following new subparagraphs: -

“(d) with effect from April 1, 2021, contribution made by a resident individual in money or otherwise to establish a shop for a female individual who is from a Samurdhi beneficiary family as recommended and confirmed by the Department of

Samurdhi Development;

(e)

with effect from April 1, 2021, expenditure incurred by any financial institution by way of cost of acquisition or merger of any other financial institution where such cost is ascertained by considering all the

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facts on case-by-case basis and as confirmed by the Central Bank of

Sri

Lanka.

Such deductible expenditure shall be apportioned in equal amounts over a period of three years of assessment and be deductible from the assessable income of that financial institution in each such year of assessment commencing from the year of assessment where the expenditure is incurred:

Provided however, any amount which was not deducted during the three years period, by reason of the total assessable income in a year has not exceeded the above permitted deduction, shall be deducted in the year of assessment immediately after the three years period and so on;

(f)

expenditure incurred on or after April 1, 2021, by any person-

(i)

in the production of a film at a cost of (including promotional expenditure of such film) not less than five million rupees;

(ii)

in the construction and equipping of a new cinema at a cost of not exceeding twenty-five million rupees;

(iii)

in the upgrading of a cinema at a cost of not exceeding ten million rupees:

Provided that, the deduction under this subparagraph shall be restricted to one third of the taxable income of the year of assessment, and any amount

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which is not deducted in current year may be carried forward and deducted in the next succeeding year and so on, subject to the same restriction.

For the purpose of this subparagraph-

“film” means any audio-visual presentation of the moving image produced on any form or format whatsoever and which is intended primarily to be exhibited by projection on a screen in a cinema;

and the expenditure on construction and equipping or upgrading a cinema shall be certified by the National Film

Corporation of Sri Lanka established by the National Film Corporation of

Sri Lanka Act, No. 47 of 1971 as being equipped with digital technology,

Digital Theatre Systems and Dolby

Sound Systems.”;

(2)

in paragraph 2 of that Schedule-

(a)

by the repeal of subparagraph (a) of that paragraph and the substitution therefor, of the following subparagraph: -

“(a) (i) Rs. 500,000, for each year of assessment prior to January 1, 2020;

and

(ii)

Rs. 3,000,000, for each year of assessment commencing on or after

January 1, 2020, except that an individual who is a trustee, receiver, executor or liquidator shall not be

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entitled to deduct this personal relief as such trustee, receiver, executor or liquidator, and the relief shall not be deducted against gains from the realisation of investment assets;”;

(b)

in subparagraph (b) of that paragraph, by the substitution for the words “year of assessment,”

of the words and figures “year of assessment, but prior to January 1, 2020,”;

(c)

in subparagraph (d) of that paragraph, by the substitution for the words “for the year;”, of the words and figures “for the year up to

December 31, 2019;”;

(d)

in subparagraph (e) of that paragraph, by the substitution for the words “for the year.”, of the words and figures “for the year up to

December 31, 2019;”;

(e)

by the addition immediately after subparagraph (e) of that paragraph, of the following new subparagraphs:-

“(f) in the case of a resident individual, following expenditure up to a total sum of Rs. 1,200,000, incurred for a year of assessment on or after January 1, 2020: -

(i)

health expenditure including contributions to medical insurance;

(ii)

vocational education or other educational expenditure incurred locally by such individual or on behalf of such individual’s children;

(iii)

interest paid on housing loans;

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(iv)

contributions made to any local pension scheme, other than for a scheme under the employer or on behalf of the employer, by an employee;

(v)

expenditure incurred for the purchase of shares or any other financial instrument listed in the

Colombo Stock Exchange and licensed by the Securities and

Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka or treasury bonds under the

Registered Stocks and Securities

Ordinance (Chapter 420) or treasury bills under the Local Treasury Bills

Ordinance (Chapter 417);

(g)

in the case of a resident individual who has acquired solar panels to fix on his premises and connected to the national grid, Rs. 600,000 for each year of assessment, upto the total expenditure on such solar panels or upto the amounts paid to a bank in respect of any loan obtained to acquire such solar panels.”.

Read on from s 56