217. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires- "acquired" with reference to property, means acquired by purchase, gift, inheritance, or exchange, or in any other manner, and the expression "acquisition" shall be construed accordingly; "active partner" in relation to a partnership, means a partner who takes an active part in the control, management, or conduct of the trade or business of such partnership; "agent", in relation to a non-resident person or to a partnership in which any partner is a non-resident person, includes -
| (a) the agent, attorney, factor, receiver or manager in Sri Lanka of such person or partnership; and |
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| (b) any person in Sri Lanka through whom such person or partnership is in receipt of any profits or income, arising in or derived from Sri Lanka; |
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"agricultural undertaking" means an undertaking for the purpose of the production of any agricultural, horticultural or any animal produce and includes any undertaking for the purpose of rearing livestock or poultry; "approved by the Commissioner-General" when used in relation to a provident or pension fund means, approved by the Commissioner-General as conforming to such conditions as are specified by him by notice published in the Gazette, having regard to the protection of the interests of the contributors to such funds and the protection of revenue; "approved by the Minister" when used in relation to an undertaking or a company or a public corporation or an institution or any fund means, approved by the Minister as being essential for the economic progress of Sri Lanka; "assessable income" means the residue of the total statutory income of any person, after deducting the aggregate amount of the deduction to which such person is entitled under section 32; "Assessor" means an Assessor of Inland Revenue appointed or deemed to be appointed under this Act, and includes a Senior Assessor of Inland Revenue; "authorized representative" means any individual who is authorized in writing -
| (1) by a person to act on his behalf for the purpose of this Act, and who is -
| | (a) in any case -
| | | (i) a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka; |
| (ii) an accountant approved by the Commissioner-General; |
| (iii) an Attorney-at-Law; |
| (iv) an employee regularly employed by that person, or |
| (v) a member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Taxation established under the Sri Lanka Institute of Taxation Act, No. 21 of 2000; |
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| | (b) in the case of an individual, a relative; | | |
| | (c) in the case of a company, a director or the secretary of that company; | | |
| | (d) in the case of a partnership, a partner of that partnership; | | |
| | (e) in the case of a body of persons, a member of such body; or | | |
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| (2) from time to time to act on his behalf for the purpose of this Act in respect of matters relating to such year of assessment as is specified in the authorization, and who_
| | (a) being and individual registered as an auditor under the Companies (Auditors) Regulations, is approved by the Commissioner-General; or | | |
| | (b) is an individual approved by the Commissioner-General under regulations made in that behalf; | | |
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"bank" means any company or body of persons carrying on banking business and includes a licensed specialised bank, within the meaning of the Banking Act, No. 30 of 1988; "body of persons" includes any local or public authority, any body corporate or collegiate, any fraternity, fellowship, association or society of persons, whether corporate or unincorporate, and any Hindu undivided family, but does not include a company or a partnership; "Board of Investment" means the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, established by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka Law, No. 4 of 1978; "business" includes an agricultural undertaking, the racing of horses, the letting or leasing of any premises, including any land by a company and the forestry; "Ceylon Tourist Board" means the Ceylon Tourist Board established by the Ceylon Tourist Board Act, No. 10 of 1966; "Ceylon Chamber of Commerce" means the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce incorporated by the Chamber of Commerce Ordinance; "charitable institution" means the trustee or trustees of a trust, or corporation or an unincorporate body of persons established for a charitable purpose only or engaged solely in carrying out a charitable purpose; "charitable purpose" means a purpose for the benefit of the public or any section of the public in or outside Sri Lanka, of any of the following categories: -
| (a) the relief of poverty; |
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| (b) the advancement of education or knowledge; |
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| (c) the advancement of religion or the maintenance of religious rites and practices or the administration of a place of public worship; |
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| (d) any other purpose beneficial or of interest to mankind, not falling within any of the preceding categories; |
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"child" in relation to an individual to whom this Act applies means ,a child under eighteen years of age, and includes a child adopted under the Adoption of Children Ordinance by that individual, and where that individual is not a citizen of Sri Lanka, a child adopted by that individual in accordance with the law of the country of which he is a subject or citizen, but does not include -
| (a) any child adopted under any other law; |
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| (c) an illegitimate child; |
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"commercial bank" has the same meaning as in the Monetary Law Act (Cap 422); "Commissioner-General" means the Commissioner-General of Inland Revenue appointed or deemed to be appointed under this Act, and : -
| (a) in relation to any provision of this Act, includes a Senior Deputy Commissioner-General, a Deputy Commissioner-General, Senior Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner who is specially authorized by the Commissioner-General either generally or for some specific purpose, to act on behalf of the Commissioner-General; |
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| (b) in relation to Chapter XXIII, includes an adjudicator appointed by the Minister and authorized by the Commissioner-General under that Chapter; |
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"company" means any company incorporated or registered under any law in force in Sri Lanka or elsewhere, and includes a public corporation; "Controller of Exchange" means the officer designated as the head of the Department of Exchange Control of the Central Bank; "Deputy Commissioner" means a Deputy Commissioner of Inland Revenue appointed or deemed to be appointed under this Act; "dividend" includes -
| (a) any distribution of profit by a company to its share holders, in the form of -
| | (i) money or of an order to pay money; | | |
| | (ii) shares in any other company; or | | |
| | (iii) debentures in that company or in any other company; and | | |
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| (b) the amount of any capital returned or distributed to the extent of the paid up value of any shares distributed by the company to its shareholders within six years preceding the date of such return or distribution of capital, such paid-up value representing the capitalization of the whole or any part of the profits of the company; |
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"donee" means any person who acquires any property under a gift, and where a gift is made to a trustee for the benefit of another person, includes both the trustee and the beneficiary; "donor" means any person who makes a gift ; "executive officer" means a director of a company or corporation, or an employee in any trade, business, profession or vocation whose monthly emoluments (including all allowances) are not less than twenty thousand rupees; "executor" means an executor or administrator of a deceased person, and includes -
| (a) any person who takes possession of or intermeddles with the property of a deceased person; |
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| (b) any person who has applied or is entitled to apply to a District Court for the grant or resealing of probate or letters of administration in respect of the estate of a deceased person; or |
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| (c) a trustee acting under a trust created by the last will of the author of the trust; |
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"foreign currency" has the same meaning as in the Exchange Control Act; "foreign currency banking unit" means a unit or department of a commercial bank, authorized by the Central bank of Sri Lanka to operate as a foreign currency banking unit; "gem" has the same meaning as in the National Gem and Jewellery Authority Act, No. 50 of 1993; "gift" means a gift within the meaning of section 52 of the Inland Revenue Act, No. 28 of 1979; "Government institution" means any Department or undertaking of the Government of Sri Lanka; "incapacitated person" means any minor, lunatic idiot or person of unsound mind; "local authority" means any Municipal Council, Urban Council, Pradeshiya Sabha and includes any Authority established by or under any law to exercise, perform and discharge powers duties and functions, corresponding or similar to the powers, duties and functions exercised, performed and discharged by any such Council or Sabha; "market value" with reference to any property and any date, means the price which, in the opinion of an Assessor, that property would have fetched on that date, in an open market; "mutual fund" means any mutual fund licensed as a mutual fund by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka; "non-resident" or "not resident" means not resident in Sri Lanka within the meaning of section 79; "owner", in relation to land and improvements thereon, includes a person who holds such land and improvements subject to a ground rent or other annual charge; "partnership" shall not include any disposition, trust, grant, covenant, agreement, assignment, settlement, or other arrangement by which the share of the divisible profits or the divisible loss of a partner of any partnership, is shared with any other person or partnership; "person" includes a company or body of persons or any government; "precedent partner" means the partner who, of the active partners resident in Sri Lanka -
| (a) is first named in the agreement of partnership; |
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| (b) if there is no such agreement, is specified by name or initials singly or with precedence to the other partners, in the usual name of the partnership; or |
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| (c) is the first named in the statement made under section 4 of the Business Names Act, No. 7 of 1987; |
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"prescribed" means prescribed by regulation made under this Act; "primary dealer" means any financier or bank, appointed , by the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka, under the Local Treasury Bills Ordinance (Chapter 417) or the Registered Stocks and Securities Ordinance (Chapter 420), and functioning as a primary dealer in Treasury Bills, Treasury Bonds, Registered Stock or other Security; "profits" or "income" means the net profits or income from any source for any period calculated in accordance with the provisions of this Act; "property" includes any interest in any movable or immovable property; "Provincial Council" means any Provincial Council established for a Province, under Article 154A of the Constitution; "public corporation" means any corporation, board or other body which was or is, established by or under, any written law, other than the Companies Act, No. 17 of 1982, with capital wholly or partly provided by the Government, by way of grant, loan or other form; "quoted public company" means any company which is resident in Sri Lanka and in respect of which the Assessor is satisfied that in relation to any year of assessment, it is a company the shares of which are quoted throughout that year of assessment or where such company is incorporated during that year of assessment, from the date of incorporation to the end of that year of assessment, in any official list published by any stock exchange licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka; "rates" means any taxation imposed by a local authority in respect of property; "receiver" includes any liquidator and any assignee, trustee or other person having the possession or control of the property of any person, by reason of insolvency or bankruptcy; "regulated provident fund" means any provident fund -
| (a) which is established by a body corporate whose profits and income are exempt from income tax under any written law; and |
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| (b) which is regulated and maintained under the written law by which such body corporate is constituted; |
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"resident" or "resident in Sri Lanka" means resident in Sri Lanka within the meaning of section 79; "Securities and Exchange Commission" means the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka established by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka Act, No. 36 of 1987; "shareholder" includes any member of a company having a share or interest in the capital or profits or income thereof, whether the capital of such company is divided into shares or not; "share" includes any interest in the capital or profits or income of a company; "statutory income" means income from any source computed in accordance with section 28; "taxable income" means the residue of assessable income of a person after deducting the aggregate amount of the allowances to which such person is entitled under section 33; "trade" includes every trade and manufacture and every adventure and concern in the nature of trade; "transfer of property" means any disposition, conveyance, assignment, settlement, delivery, payment or other alienation of property, and includes -
| (a) the creation of a trust in property; and |
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| (b) the grant or creation of any interest in any property; |
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"trustee" includes any trustee, guardian, curator, manager or other person having the direction, control or management of any property on behalf of any person and in relation to any unit trust, the person appointed as the trustee of that unit trust by the instrument creating such unit trust, but does not include an executor; "unit trust" means any unit trust licensed as a unit trust by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka; "with the approval of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka" when used in relation to the opening of an account or the making of an investment, means with the approval of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka as being essential for the economic progress of Sri Lanka; "year of assessment" means the period of twelve months commencing on the first day of April of any year and ending on the thirty-first day of March in the immediately succeeding year; "year preceding a year of assessment" means the period of twelve months ending on the thirty-first day of March immediately prior to a year of assessment. |
Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts