Inland Revenue Department still iffy about converting NIC to TIN

According to a report by The Morning, the Inland Revenue Department has no immediate plans to convert existing NICs to TINs and that the current effort is only a proposal. “So far, we haven’t implemented anything like that. It is just a suggestion,” says IRD Assistant Commissioner S.A.K.K. Sanath. So far, the IRD has only utilized NICs as a means of easing the TIN registration process.

However, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya previously stated measures were underway to turn NICs into TINs via the Department of Registered Persons database. At the time, the minister pointed out that the database contains 14-15 million records of citizens over the age of 18. He further mentioned that once the process is complete, the government will be able to automatically issue TINs.

The department also lifted the deadline for TIN registration following several challenges with getting every citizen onto the system. Interestingly, the government urgency has already pushed the numbers significantly in a matter of months. By early January, almost a million registered for TIN, up from 204,467 personal tax files in the fiscal year ending 2022. During the same period, the number of registered tax paying companies surged from 73,444 to 81,909, a little over 11% jump.

In any case, it’s unclear if the IRD is moving ahead with the NIC-to-TIN process, though it appears the department is experimenting with the idea at some capacity. It’s also worth pointing out that the IRD’s own Revenue Administration Management Information System (RAMIS) itself has been problematic for the department. Back in 2023, it was revealed that the government spent LKR 10 billion for the system that has proven to be faulty. While assurances were offered by the government over its overhaul, the State Minister of Technology Kanaka Herath later claimed the RAMIS “isn’t operatable.”